ARUNDDtllARDINOL- 

-• — •- 


UCSB  LiSKAKY, 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 

PRESENTED  BY 

Mr.    H.    H.    KMiani 


H.    DE    BALZAC 


THE   COMEDIE    HUMAINE 


; 


WITH    HIS    BACK    AGAINST    A    TREE    IN    THE    BOULEVARD,    HE 
TURNED    THE    PACES   OVER. 


H.    DE     BALZAC 


THE  RISE  AND  FALL  OF 

CESAR  BIROTTEAU 

(GRANDEUR  ET  DE'CADENCE  DE 
CE'SAR  BIROTTEAU) 

AND  GAUDISSART  THE  GREAT 


TRANSLATED    BY 


ELLEN    MARRIAGE 


WITH  A   PREFACE  BY 


GEORGE    SAINTSBURY 


PHILADELPHIA 

THE  GEBBIE  PUBLISHING  Co.,  Ltd. 
i) 


CONTENTS 


PREFACE ix 

CESAR   BIROTTEAU 

HIS   APOGEE I 

CESAR   STRUGGLES   WITH   MISFORTUNES l8o 

GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT 343 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

WITH    HIS   BACK  AGAINST  A  TREE   IN   THE  BOULEVARD,  HE  TURNED 

THE  PAGES  OVER  (p.  34) Frontispiece 

PACK 

"GOOD-DAY,   MY    DEAR   LADY,"    SAID   BIROTTEAU   FLIPPANTLY        .        98 
"TO  WHAT   DO   I   OWE  THE   HONOR   OF  YOUR   VISIT,  SIR?"  .      2l6 

"I   MUST   HAVE   MY  MONF.Y,   I   WANT  MY    MONEY!"        .  .  .286 

Drawn  by  W.  Boucher. 

GAUDISSART  THE  GREAT 343 

Drawn  by  J.  Ayton  Symington. 


PREFACE. 

FEW  books  of  Balzac's  have  been  the  subject  of  more  diverse 
judgment  than  "  Cesar  Birotteau."  From  the  opinion  of  the 
unnamed  solicitor,  who  told  Madame  Serville  that  it  was  an 
invaluable  work  to  consult  on  bankruptcy,  to  that  of  M.  Paul 
Lacroix  (beloved  of  many  as  the  Bibliophile  Jacob),  that  it 
might  be  forgiven  for  the  sake  of  "  Le  Pere  Goriot  "  and  the 
"  Peau  de  Chagrin,"  there  is  not  perhaps  quite  so  great  a 
distance  as  may  appear ;  but  other  expressions,  opposed  not 
merely  in  form,  but  in  fact,  might  probably  be  collected. 

As  for  the  unfavorable  division  of  these  opinions  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  discovering  their  causes ;  and  there  should  be 
little,  save  in  the  case  of  blind  partisans,  in  acknowledging 
their  partial  validity.  Although  the  book  opens  with  one  of 
Balzac's  most  brilliant  pieces  of  actual  human  observation — 
the  description  of  the  vague  and  half-delirious  terror  of  waking 
from  a  bad  dream — and  though  the  subsequent  conversation 
between  Cesar  and  Constance  has  the  merit  of  no  vulgar  cur- 
tain-lecture, it  soon  goes  off  into  one  of  those  endless  retro- 
spective narrations  which  are  among  the  greatest  blots  on  the 
Comedie,  which  utterly  stop  the  action,  and  which,  in  the 
case  of  very  many  readers  who  are  not  gifted  with  the  faculty 
of  what  may  be  called  literary  mountaineering,  are  very 
likely  to  cause  the  putting  down  of  the  book.  To  this  initial 
difficulty  has  to  be  added  the  choking  of  the  latter  part  with 
those  bankruptcy  details  which  did  so  charm  the  professional 
mind  of  Laure  Balzac's  learned  friend,  and  which,  for  unpro- 
fessional minds,  have  something  which  is  very  much  the  re- 
verse of  charm.  The  reader  of  only  moderate  athletic  powers, 
who  has  with  difficulty  struggled  through  and  up  the  sloughs 
and  slopes  of  the  previous  history  of  the  Birotteau  business,  is 
hardly  to  be  blamed  if  he  gives  up  the  attempt  in  despair 

(ix) 


*  PREFACE. 

after  some  attempt  on  the  slippery  "screes"  of  commercial 
law  which  Balzac  has  delighted  to  strew  over  the  higher 
ground. 

Complaints  of  these  drawbacks,  I  repeat,  would  be,  and 
are,  just.  Nevertheless,  though  the  list  of  the  faults  of  the 
book  is  not  even  yet  exhausted,  it  will  be  a  very  great  pity  if 
any  one  is  baffled  by  them  and  fails  to  go  through  to  the  end. 
For  "  C6sar  Birotteau"  is  a  book  than  which  none  of  Bal- 
zac's is  more  thoroughly  vecu,  as  his  countrymen  say,  more 
thoroughly  inspired  with  the  personal  sympathies  and  ex- 
periences of  the  author ;  and  this  with  Balzac  was  always  a 
guarantee  of  success.  He  too  knew  bankruptcy  well,  and  not 
merely  by  his  studies  in  the  lawyer's  office ;  for  though  I 
believe  he  never  actually  "  passed  the  court  "  (even  his  print- 
ing  and  publishing  operations,  disastrous  as  they  were,  termi- 
nated in  arrangements),  he  was  face  to  face  with  it  all  his 
life.  He,  too,  knew  the  attraction,  the  fatal  attraction  of  une 
bonne  affaire,  such  as  he  speaks  of  in  one  of  his  letters — une 
bonne  affaire  qui  ne  demande  que  cent  mille  francs.  He  was 
perfectly  capable  of  buying  up  all  the  nuts  in  Paris  in  order 
to  make  hair-oil  of  them;  I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised 
if  he  had  actually  had  in  view  this  very  speculation.  And 
he  thought  he  knew  the  ways  of  bankers  and  folk  of  that  kind; 
though  whether  he  did  or  not,  the  sons  of  Zeruiah  were 
usually  as  much  too  hard  for  him  as  they  were  for  Birotteau. 
Hence  there  is  even  in  the  dryest  details,  even  in  the  most 
long-winded  reportage  of  the  book,  the  throb  of  personal  in- 
terest, the  pulse  and  pant  of  life. 

The  action  and  characters  also  are  interesting,  if  not,  on 
the  whole,  quite  artistically  probable.  It  will  be  observed 
that  the  hero  does  a  little  underlie  the  constant  objection  of 
the  Devil's  Advocate  to  Balzac,  that  almost  every  one  of  his 
good  characters  is  more  or  less  of  a  fool.  Even  a  keen  man 
of  business  may,  of  course,  be  easily  outwitted  in  a  game  of 
pure  speculation — a  proposition  which  we  need  not  go  to 


PREFACE.  xi 

France,  or  examine  the  long  list  of  "crashes  "  from  the  ficti- 
tious terrains  de  la  Madeleine  to  the  real  Panama,  in  order  to 
establish.  And  a  very  keen  man  of  business  may  be  imprud- 
ently expensive  in  a  combined  fit  of  personal  vanity  and  affec- 
tion for  his  family.  But  it  is  a  little  of  a  stretch  on  the 
credulity  of  the  reader  to  represent  a  plodding  tradesman  like 
Birotteau,  who,  as  we  are  expressly  told,  had  an  old-fashioned 
horror  of  "paper,"  as  not  merely  incurring  large  speculative 
obligations,  but  as  stripping  himself  of  every  rap  of  ready 
money  while  exposing  himself  to  an  unusual  demand  for  it. 
The  picture  of  his  going  a-borrowing  and  a-sorrowing  is  drawn 
with  great  power  and  with  much  vivacity ;  but  here,  too,  his 
simplicity  is  a  thought  exaggerated.  And  Constance's  affection 
for  and  fidelity  to  an  unattractive  man,  whom  she  saw  to  be 
little  better  than  a  fool,  may  be  thought  improbable  in  an 
ideal  beauty  with  a  clear  head,  while  some  may  even  say  that 
ideal  beauties  are  almost  always  extremely  stupid.  Yet,  again, 
in  Cesarine,  Momus  may  point  to  that  superficiality  and  vague- 
ness which  usually,  if  not  always,  mar  Balzac's  treatment  of 
an  "honest "  girl. 

Yet  these  things  will  not,  any  more  than  those  formerly 
mentioned,  make  any  fair  or  genial  judge  give  up  the  book  to 
a  lower  class  than  that  of  Balzac's  best,  if  not  of  his  very 
best.  Whatever  faults  Birotteau  may  have,  his  goodness  and 
his  probity  and,  let  us  add  (though  it  be  a  little  illegitimate), 
his  tragic  end,  make  him  one  of  the  author's  most  sympathetic 
personages,  as  are  also  his  wife  and  daughter.  If  Popinot  is 
rather  the  virtuous  apprentice  of  the  stage,  and  Du  Tillet  the 
wicked  ditto,  who  is  not  punished,  the  former  at  least  is  attrac- 
tive ;  and  Pillerault,  the  good  uncle,  certainly  cannot  be  ac- 
cused of  foolishness.  All  the  minor  figures  come  in  well  for 
the  action  whenever  Balzac  will  let  them  act,  and  not  be  talk- 
ing himself;  and  even  the  bankruptcy  affair  acquires  a  sort  of 
interest  from  the  rapidity  and  bustle  of  its  conduct.  As  for 
the  ball — that  famous  and  elaborate  instance  of  the  penalties 


xu  PREFACE. 

and  disappointments  of  elaborately  engineered  and  anticipated 
pleasure — it  is  excellent.  Nor  should  we  close  without  special 
commendation  for  Claparon,  a  less  labored  personage  than 
some  of  the  author's,  but  a  very  happy  sketch  of  rascality 
which  is  not  exactly  scoundrelism,  because,  though  entirely 
unscrupulous,  it  is  not  in  the  least  malign. 

The  book  was  originally  published  after  a  fashion  not  un- 
common in  France,  but,  I  think,  hardly,  if  at  all,  known  in 
England,  with  no  publisher's  name,  and  not  for  sale,  but  as 
a  bonus  jointly  given  by  the  «'  Figaro  "  and  the  "  Estafette" 
to  their  subscribers  for  1838.  It  bore  that  date,  but  was  act- 
ually issued  in  November,  1837.  In  this  form  it  had  two 
volumes,  three  parts  (the  present  two,  and  a  third,  "  Le  Tri- 
omphe  de  C6sar"),  and  sixteen  chapters  and  headings.  Re- 
published  by  Charpentier  in  1839,  it  lost  the  chapter,  but 
kept  the  part-headings,  the  last  being  omitted  when  it  be- 
came a  "  Scdne  de  la  Vie  Parisienne  "  in  the  general  arrange- 
ment of  the  Comddie  (1844). 

"Gaudissart  the  Great "  is,  of  course,  slight,  not  merely  in 
bulk,  but  in  conception.  Balzac's  Tourangeau  patriotism  may 
have  amused  itself  by  the  idea  of  the  villagers  "  rolling  "  the 
great  Gaudissart ;  but  the  ending  of  the  tale  can  hardly  be 
thought  to  be  quite  so  good  as  the  beginning.  Still,  that  be- 
ginning is  altogether  excellent.  The  sketch  of  the  commis- 
voyageur  generally  smacks  of  that  physiologic  style  of  which 
Balzac  was  so  fond  ;  but  it  is  good,  and  Gaudissart  himself,  as 
well  as  the  whole  scene  with  his  tpouse  libre,  is  delightful. 
The  Illustrious  One  was  evidently  a  favorite  character  with 
his  creator.  He  nowhere  plays  a  very  great  part ;  but  it  is 
everywhere  a  rather  favorable  and,  except  in  this  little  mishap 
with  Margaritis  (which,  it  must  be  observed,  does  not  turn 
entirely  to  his  discomfiture),  a  rather  successful  part.  We 
have  him  in  "Cesar  Birotteau,"  superintending  the  early 
efforts  of  Popinot  to  launch  the  Huile  Cdphalique.  He  was 
present  at  the  great  ball.  He  served  as  intermediary  to  M. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

de  Bauvan  in  the  merciful  scheme  of  buying  at  fancy  prices 
the  handiwork  of  the  Count's  faithless  spouse,  and  so  providing 
her  with  a  livelihood ;  and  later,  as  a  theatrical  manager,  a 
little  spoilt  by  his  profession,  we  find  him  in  "Le  Cousin 
Pons."  But  he  is  always  what  the  French  call  "a  good 
devil,"  and  here  he  is  a  very  good  devil,  indeed. 

G.  S. 

Note. — I  hope  it  is  not  improper  to  bespeak  unusual  indulgence  for  the 
translator  in  regard  to  the  technicalities  of  this  book.  She  has,  I  know, 
taken  the  greatest  pains  with  them.  But  to  secure  absolute  success  in 
such  a  matter  we  must  have  an  expert  in  French  bankruptcy  law  who  is 
also  an  expert  in  English  bankruptcy  law,  and  perfect  in  both  literatures 
as  well.  One  might  go  far  before  finding  such  a  person. 


THE   RISE   AND   FALL   OF 
CESAR   BIROTTEAU, 

Retail  Perfumer, 

Deputy-Mayor  of  the  Second  Arrondissement,  Paris, 
Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  etc. 

To  Monsieur  Alphonse  de  Lamartine,  from  his  admirer, 

DE  BALZAC. 

I. 

CESAR'S  APOGEE. 

THERE  is  but  one  brief  interval  of  silence  during  a  winter 
night  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6 ;  for  to  the  sounds  of  carriages 
rolling  home  from  balls  and  theatres  succeeds  the  rumbling 
of  market-gardeners'  carts  on  their  way  to  the  Great  Market. 
During  this  pause  in  the  great  symphony  of  uproar  sent  up  by 
the  streets  of  Paris,  this  cessation  of  traffic  toward  one  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  wife  of  M.  Cesar  Birotteau,  of  the  retail 
perfumery  establishment  near  the  Place  Vendome,  dreamed  a 
frightful  dream,  and  awoke  with  a  start. 

She  had  met  her  double.  She  had  appeared  to  herself, 
clad  in  rags,  laying  a  meagre,  shriveled  hand  on  her  own 
store-door  handle.  She  had  been  at  once  in  her  chair  at  the 
cash  desk  and  on  the  threshold ;  she  had  heard  herself  beg- 
ging ;  she  had  heard  two  selves  speaking  in  fact,  the  one  from 
the  desk,  the  other  from  the  doorstep.  She  turned  and 
stretched  out  her  hand  for  her  husband,  and  found  his  place 
cold.  At  that  her  terror  grew  to  such  a  pitch  that  she  could  not 
move  her  head,  her  neck  seemed  stiffened  to  stone,  the  walls 

(1) 


2  C&SA&  BIROTTEAU. 

of  her  throat  were  glued  together,  her  voice  failed  her ;  she 
sat  up  rigid  and  motionless,  staring  before  her  with  wide  eyes. 
Her  hair  rose  with  a  painful  sensation,  strange  sounds  rang  in 
her  ears,  something  clutched  at  her  heart  though  it  beat  hard, 
she  was  covered  with  perspiration,  and  yet  shuddering  with 
cold  in  the  alcove  behind  the  two  open  folding-doors. 

Fear,  with  its  partially  morbific  effects,  is  an  emotion  which 
puts  so  violent  a  strain  upon  the  human  mechanism  that  the 
mental  faculties  are  either  suddenly  stimulated  by  it  to  the 
highest  degree  of  activity  or  reduced  to  the  last  extremity 
of  disorganization.  Physiology  has  long  been  puzzled  to 
account  for  a  phenomenon  which  upsets  its  theories  and  stul- 
tifies its  hypotheses,  although  it  is  simply  and  solely  a  shock 
brought  about  spontaneously,  but,  like  all  electrical  phenom- 
ena, erratic  and  unaccountable  in  its  manifestations.  This 
explanation  will  become  a  commonplace  when  men  of  science 
recognize  the  great  part  played  by  electricity  in  human  think- 
ing power. 

Mme.  Birotteau  was  just  then  enduring  the  pangs  which 
bring  about  a  certain  mental  lucidity  consequent  on  those 
terrible  discharges  when  the  will  is  contracted  or  expanded 
by  a  mysterious  mechanism.  So  that,  during  a  lapse  of  time, 
exceedingly  short  if  measured  by  the  tickings  of  a  clock,  but 
incommensurable  by  reason  of  the  infinite  rapid  impressions 
which  it  brought,  the  poor  woman  had  the  prodigious  power 
of  uttering  more  thoughts  and  of  calling  up  more  memories 
than  would  have  arisen  in  her  mind  in  its  normal  state  in  the 
course  of  a  whole  day.  Her  soliloquy  during  this  vivid  and 
painful  experience  may  be  resumed  in  a  few  words  she  uttered, 
incongruous  and  nonsensical  as  they  were — 

"  There  is  no  reason  whatever  why  Birotteau  should  be  out 
of  bed.  He  ate  so  much  veal ;  perhaps  it  disagreed  with 
him.  But  if  he  had  been  taken  ill,  he  would  have  waked  me 
up.  These  nineteen  years  that  we  have  slept  here  together 
under  this  roof,  he  has  never  got  up  in  the  middle  of  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  3 

night  without  telling  me,  poor  dear  !  He  has  never  slept  out 
except  when  he  was  on  guard.  Did  he  go  to  bed  when  I  did  ? 
Why,  yes.  Dear  me  !  how  stupid  I  am  !  " 

She  glanced  over  the  bed.  There  lay  her  husband's  night- 
cap, moulded  to  the  almost  conical  shape  of  his  head. 

"  Can  he  be  dead  ?  Can  he  have  made  away  with  himself? 
Why  should  he?"  she  thought.  "Since  they  made  him 
deputy-mayor  two  years  ago,  I  haven't  known  what  to  make  of 
him.  To  get  mixed  up  with  public  affairs,  on  the  word  of  an 
woman,  isn't  it  enough  to  make  you  feel  sorry  for  a  man  ? 
The  business  is  doing  well.  He  has  just  given  me  a  shawl. 
Perhaps  it  is  doing  badly  !  Pshaw  !  I  should  know  of  it  if  it 
were.  But  is  there  any  knowing  what  is  in  the  bottom  of  a 
man's  mind?  Or  a  woman's  either?  There  is  no  harm  in 
that.  Haven't  sales  amounted  to  five  thousand  francs  this  very 
day  !  And  then  a  deputy-mayor  is  not  likely  to  kill  himself; 
he  knows  the  law  too  well  for  that.  But  where  can  he  be?" 

She  had  no  power  to  turn  her  head ;  she  could  not  stretch 
out  a  hand  to  the  bell-rope,  which  would  have  set  in  motion 
a  general  servant,  three  clerks,  and  the  errand  boy.  The 
nightmare  that  lasted  on  into  her  waking  moments  was  so 
strong  upon  her  that  she  forgot  her  daughter,  peacefully  sleep- 
ing in  the  next  room,  beyond  the  door  which  opened  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed. 

"Birotteau?  "  She  received  no  answer.  She  fancied  that 
she  had  called  aloud,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  she  had  only 
spoken  in  her  thoughts. 

"  Suppose  he  should  have  a  mistress?  But  he  has  not  wit 
enough  for  that,"  she  thought,  "and  then  he  is  too  fond  of 
me.  Didn't  he  tell  Madame  Roguin  that  he  had  never  been 
unfaithful  to  me,  even  in  thought?  Why,  the  man  is  honesty 
itself!  If  any  one  deserves  to  go  to  heaven,  he  does.  What 
he  finds  to  say  to  his  confessor,  I  don't  know.  He  tells  him 
make-believes.  For  a  Royalist  as  he  is  (without  any  reason  to 
give  for  it,  by-the-by),  he  does  not  make  much  of  a  puff  of 


4  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

his  religion.  Poor  dear,  he  slips  out  to  mass  at  eight  o'clock 
as  if  he  were  running  off  to  amuse  himself  on  the  sly.  It  is 
the  fear  of  God  that  he  has  before  his  eyes ;  he  does  not 
trouble  himself  much  about  hell.  How  should  he  have  a 
mistress?  He  keeps  so  close  to  my  apron-strings  that  I  get 
tired  of  it.  He  loves  me  like  the  apple  of  his  eye ;  he  would 
put  out  his  eyes  for  me.  All  these  nineteen  years  he  has 
never  spoken  a  harsh  word  to  myself.  I  come  before  his 

daughter  with  him.  Why,  Cdsarine  is  there (C6sarine  ! 

Cisarine !)  Birotteau  never  has  a  thought  that  he  does  not 
tell  me.  It  was  a  true  word  he  said  when  he  came  to  the 
sign  of  the  Little  Sailor  and  told  me  that  it  would  take  time 

to  know  him.  And  he's  gone ! that  is  the  extraordinary 

thing!  " 

She  turned  her  head  with  an  effort  and  peered  into  the 
darkness.  Night  filled  the  room  with  picturesque  effects,  the 
despair  of  language,  the  exclusive  province  of  the  painter  of 
genre.  What  words  could  reproduce  the  whimsical  shapes 
that  the  curtains  took  as  the  draft  swelled  them,  or  the  startling 
zigzag  shadows  that  they  cast  ?  The  dim  night-light  flickered 
over  the  red  cotton  folds ;  the  brass  rosette  of  the  curtain-rest 
reflected  the  crimson  gleams  from  a  central  boss,  blood-shot 
like  a  robber's  eye ;  a  ghostly  gown  was  kneeling  there ;  the 
room  was  filled,  in  fact,  with  all  the  strange,  unfamiliar  appear- 
ances which  appal  the  imagination  at  a  time  when  it  can  only 
see  horrors  and  exaggerate  them. 

Mme.  Birotteau  fancied  that  she  saw  a  bright  light  in  the 
next  room,  and  a  thought  of  fire  flashed  across  her ;  but  she 
caught  sight  of  a  red  bandanna  handkerchief,  which  looked 
to  her  like  a  pool  of  blood,  and  in  another  moment  she  dis- 
covered traces  of  a  struggle  in  the  arrangement  of  the  furni- 
ture, and  could  think  of  nothing  but  burglars.  She  remem- 
bered that  there  was  a  sum  of  money  in  the  safe,  and  a  gener- 
ous fear  extinguished  the  cold  ague  of  nightmare.  Thoroughly 
alarmed,  she  sprang  out  on  to  the  floor  in  her  night-dress,  to 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  5 

go  to  the  assistance  of  the  husband  whom  she  fancied  as  en- 
gaged in  a  hand-to-hand  conflict  with  assassins. 

"  Birotteau  !  Birotteau  !  "  she  cried  in  a  voice  of  anguish. 

The  retail  perfumer  was  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  ad- 
jacent room,  apparently  engaged  in  measuring  the  air  with  a 
yard-stick.  His  dressing-gown  (of  green  cotton  with  choco- 
late-colored spots)  covered  him  so  ill  that  his  bare  legs  were 
red  with  the  cold,  but  he  did  not  seem  to  notice  this. 

When  Cesar  turned  round  with  a  "  Well,  what  is  it,  Con- 
stance ?  "  he  looked  as  a  man  absorbed  by  his  schemes  is  apt 
to  look — so  ludicrously  foolish,  that  Mme.  Birotteau  began  to 
laugh. 

"  Dear  me,  C6sar,  how  queer  you  look  !  "  said  she.  "  What 
made  you  leave  me  alone  without  saying  anything?  I  nearly 
died  of  fright.  I  did  not  know  what  to  think.  What  are  you 
after,  open  to  every  wind  that  blows  ?  You  will  catch  your 
death  of  cold.  Birotteau  !  do  you  hear  ?  " 

"Yes,  wife;  here  I  am,"  and  the  perfumer  returned  to  the 
bedroom. 

"  There,  come  along  and  warm  yourself,  and  tell  me  what 
crotchet  you  have  in  your  head,"  returned  Mme.  Birotteau, 
raking  among  the  ashes,  which  she  hastily  tried  to  rekindle. 
"I  am  frozen.  How  stupid  it  was  of  me  to  get  up  in  my 
night-dress !  But  I  really  thought  you  were  being  mur- 
dered." 

The  merchant  set  down  the  bedroom  candlestick  on  the 
mantel,  huddled  himself  in  his  dressing-gown,  and  looked 
about  the  room  in  an  absent  fashion  for  his  wife's  flannel 
petticoat. 

"Here,  pussie,  just  put  this  on,"  said  he.  "Twenty-two 

by  eighteen "  he  added,  continuing  his  soliloquy.  "We 

could  have  a  magnificent  drawing-room." 

"  Look  here  !  Birotteau,  you  seem  to  be  in  a  fair  way  to 
lose  your  wits.  Are  you  dreaming  ?  " 

"  No  ;  I  am  thinking,  wife." 


6  C&SAK  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Then  you  might  wait ;  your  follies  will  keep  till  daylight, 
at  any  rate,"  cried  she,  and,  fastening  her  petticoat  under  her 
sleeping-jacket,  she  went  to  open  the  door  of  their  daughter's 
room. 

"  Cesarine  is  fast  asleep.  She  will  not  hear  a  word.  Come, 
Birotteau,  tell  me  about  it.  What  is  it  ?  " 

"We  can  give  the  ball." 

"  Give  a  ball !  We  give  a  ball  !  My  dear !  on  the  word 
of  an  honest  woman,  you  are  dreaming!  " 

"  Dreaming  ?  not  a  bit  of  it,  darling." 

"  Listen  ;  you  should  always  do  your  duty  according  to  your 
station  in  life.  Now  the  Government  has  brought  me  into 
prominence,  I  belong  to  the  Government,  and  it  is  incumbent 
upon  us  to  study  its  spirit  and  to  forward  its  aims  by  develop- 
ing them.  The  Due  de  Richelieu  has  just  put  an  end  to  the 
occupation  of  the  allied  troops.  According  to  Monsieur  de 
la  Billardiere,  official  functionaries  who  represent  the  city  of 
Paris  ought  to  regard  it  as  a  duty — each  in  his  own  sphere  of 
influence — to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  French  soil.  Let  us 
establish  beyond  proof  a  genuine  patriotism  which  shall  put 
those  accursed  schemers  that  call  themselves  Liberals  to  the 
blush,  eh  ?  Do  you  think  that  I  do  not  love  my  country  ?  I 
mean  to  show  the  Liberals  and  my  enemies  that  to  love  the 
King  is  to  love  France." 

"  Then  do  you  think  that  you  have  any  enemies,  my  poor 
Birotteau?" 

"  Why,  yes,  we  have  enemies,  wife.  And  half  our  friends 
in  the  quarter  are  among  them.  They  all  say,  '  Birotteau  has 
such  luck ;  Birotteau  was  once  a  nobody,  and  look  at  him 
now  !  He  is  deputy-mayor ;  everything  has  prospered  with 
him.'  Very  well;  there  is  a  nice  disappointment  still  in 
store  for  them.  You  shall  be  the  first  to  hear  that  I  am  a 
chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor ;  the  King  signed  the  patent 
yesterday. ' ' 

"  Oh  !  well  then,  dear,  we  must  give  the  ball,"  cried  Mme. 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  7 

Birotteau,  greatly  excited.  "  But  what  can  you  have  done  so 
great  as  to  have  the  cross  ?  " 

Birotteau  was  embarrassed. 

"  When  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere  told  me  about  it  yester- 
day," said  he,  "  I  asked  myself,  just  as  you  did,  what  claim  I 
had  to  it.  But,  after  thinking  it  over,  I  saw  that  I  deserved 
it,  and  ended  by  approving  the  action  of  the  Government. 
To  begin  with,  I  am  a  Royalist,  and  I  was  wounded  at  Saint- 
Roch  in  Vend6miaire ;  it  is  something,  isn't  it,  to  have  borne 
arms  for  the  good  cause  in  those  times  ?  Then  some  of  the 
merchants  think  that  the  way  I  discharged  my  duties  as  arbi- 
trator at  the  Consular  Tribunal  had  given  general  satisfaction  ; 
and,  lastly,  I  am  a  deputy-mayor,  and  the  King  is  distributing 
four  crosses  among  the  municipal  authorities  in  the  city  of 
Paris.  After  they  had  gone  into  the  claims  of  the  deputy- 
mayors  for  a  decoration,  the  prefect  put  me  down  at  the  top 
of  the  list.  The  King,  too,  is  sure  to  know  my  name ;  thanks 
to  old  Ragon,  I  supply  him  with  the  only  hair  powder  he  will 
use  ;  no  one  else  has  the  recipe  for  the  powder  the  late  Queen 
used  to  wear,  poor  dear  august  victim  !  The  mayor  backed 
me  up  with  all  his  might.  What  was  I  to  do  ?  If  the  King 
gives  me  the  cross  when  I  don't  ask  him  for  it,  it  looks  to 
me  as  if  I  could  not  decline  it  without  failing  in  respect. 
Was  it  my  doing  that  I  was  made  a  deputy-mayor?  So  as  we 
have  the  wind  in  our  sails,  wife,  as  your  uncle  Pillerault  says 
when  he  is  in  a  joking  humor,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that 
we  must  live  up  to  our  high  position.  If  I  am  to  be  some- 
body, I  will  have  a  try  at  being  whatever  Providence  meant 
me  to  be  ;  a  sub-prefect,  if  such  is  my  destiny.  And  you 
make  a  great  mistake,  wife,  when  you  imagine  that  a  citizen 
has  discharged  all  the  duty  he  owes  his  country  when  he  has 
supplied  his  customers  with  scent  across  the  counter  for  a 
score  of  years.  If  the  State  demands  the  cooperation  of  our 
intelligence,  we  are  as  much  bound  to  give  it  as  to  pay  suc- 
cession duty  or  the  door  and  window  tax,  et  cetera.  Do  you 


8  C£SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

want  to  sit  at  your  desk  all  your  life?  You  have  been  there 
a  pretty  long  time  (God  be  thanked).  The  ball  will  be  a 
private  fete  of  our  own.  No  more  of  the  store  ;  tor  you,  that 
is.  I  shall  burn  the  signboard  THE  QUEEN  OF  ROSES,  and 
the  words,  CESAR  BIROTTEAU  (LATE  RAGON),  RETAIL  PER- 
FUMER, shall  be  painted  out  on  the  store-front.  I  shall  simply 
put  up  PERFUMERY  in  big  gold  letters  instead.  There  will  be 
room  on  the  mezzanine  floor  for  a  cash  desk  and  the  safe, 
and  a  nice  little  room  for  you.  I  shall  make  the  back-store 
and  the  present  dining-room  and  kitchen  into  a  warehouse. 
Then  I  mean  to  take  the  second  floor  next  door,  and  make  a 
way  into  it  through  the  wall.  The  staircase  must  be  altered 
so  that  we  can  walk  on  the  level  out  of  one  house  and  into 
the  other.  We  shall  have  a  fine  set  of  rooms  then,  furnished 
up  to  the  nines. 

"Yes.  I  will  have  your  room  done  up  and  contrive  a 
boudoir  for  you,  and  C6sarine  shall  have  a  pretty  room.  You 
must  engage  a  young  lady  for  the  store,  and  she  and  the  assist- 
ant and  your  waiting-maid  (yes,  madame,  you  shall  have  a 
waiting-maid)  shall  have  rooms  on  the  third  floor.  The 
kitchen  must  be  on  the  fourth  floor.  The  cook  and  the  errand- 
boy  shall  be  lodged  up  there,  and  we  will  keep  the  stock  of 
bottles,  and  flasks,  and  china  on  the  fifth.  The  workrooms 
can  be  in  the  attics,  so  when  people  come  in  they  will  not  see 
bottles  being  filled  and  stoppered  and  labeled,  nor  sachets 
being  made.  That  sort  of  thing  is  all  very  well  for  the  Rue 
Saint-Denis,  but  it  won't  do  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6  !  Bad 
style.  Our  store  ought  to  be  as  snug  as  a  drawing-room. 
Just  tell  me  this :  are  we  the  only  perfumers  who  have  come 
in  for  honors?  Aren't  there  vinegar-makers  and  mustard 
manufacturers  who  have  a  command  in  the  National  Guard, 
and  are  well  looked  on  at  the  Tuileries  ?  Let  us  do  as  they 
do,  and  extend  the  business,  at  the  same  time  making  our 
way  in  society." 

"  One  moment,  Birotteau.    Do  you  know  what  I  think  while 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  9 

I  hear  you  talk?  Well,  to  me,  it  is  just  as  if  a  man  was  start- 
ing out  on  a  wild-goose  chase.  Don't  you  remember  what  I 
told  you  when  there  was  talk  of  your  being  made  mayor  ?  A 
quiet  life  before  all  things,  I  said  ;  you  are  about  as  fit  for 
public  life  as  my  arm  for  a  windmill  sail.  Grand  doings  will 
be  the  ruin  of  you. 

"You  did  not  listen  to  me;  and  here  the  ruin  has  come 
upon  us.  If  you  are  going  to  take  part  in  politics,  you  must 
have  money ;  and  have  we  money  ?  What !  you  mean  to 
burn  the  signboard  that  cost  six  hundred  francs,  and  give  up 
the  Queen  of  Roses  and  your  real  glory?  Leave  ambition 
to  other  people.  If  you  put  your  hand  in  the  fire,  you  get 
singed,  don't  you?  Politics  are  very  hot  nowadays.  We 
have  a  hundred  thousand  francs  good  money  invested  outside 
the  business,  the  stock,  and  the  factory,  have  we?  If  you 
have  a  mind  to  increase  it,  do  now  as  you  did  in  1793.  The 
funds  are  at  seventy-two,  buy  rentes ;  you  would  have  ten 
thousand  livres  a  year  coming  in  without  drawing  anything 
out  of  the  business.  Then  take  advantage  of  the  transfer  to 
marry  our  Cesarine,  sell  the  business,  and  let  us  go  and  live 
in  your  part  of  the  world.  Why,  any  time  for  these  fifteen 
years  you  have  talked  of  buying  the  Treasury  Farm,  that  nice 
little  place  near  Chinon,  with  streams,  and  meadows,  and 
woods  and  vineyards,  and  crofts.  It  would  bring  you  in  a 
thousand  crowns  a  year,  and  we  both  of  us  like  the  house. 
It  is  still  to  be  had  for  sixty  thousand  crowns,  and  my  gentle- 
man must  meddle  and  make  in  politics,  must  he  ? 

"  Just  remember  what  we  are — we  are  perfumers.  Sixteen 
years  ago,  before  you  thought  of  the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sul- 
tanes  and  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  if  any  one  had  come 
and  said  to  you,  '  You  will  have  money  enough  to  buy  the 
Treasury  Farm,'  wouldn't  you  have  been  wild  with  joy? 
Very  well ;  and  now,  when  you  can  buy  the  property  which 
you  wanted  so  much  that  you  talked  of  nothing  else  every 
time  that  you  opened  your  mouth,  you  begin  to  talk  of  squan- 


10  C&SAR  JBfKOTTEACr. 

dering  the  money  that  we  have  earned  by  the  sweat  of  our 
brows,  ours  I  may  say,  for  all  along  I  have  sat  there  at  the 
desk  like  a  dog  in  a  kennel.  Now,  instead  of  turning  five 
sous  into  six  centimes,  and  six  centimes  into  nothing  at  all, 
wouldn't  it  be  better  to  have  a  daughter  married  to  a  notary 
in  Paris,  and  a  house  that  you  can  stay  at,  and  to  spend  eight 
months  in  the  year  at  Chinon  ? 

"  Wait  until  the  funds  rise.  You  can  give  your  daughter 
eight  thousand  livres  a  year  ;  we  will  keep  two  thousand  for 
ourselves,  and  the  sale  of  the  business  will  pay  for  the  Treasury 
Farm.  We  will  take  the  furniture  down  into  the  country, 
dear,  it  is  quite  worth  while,  and  there  we  can  live  like 
princes,  while  here  one  must  have«at  least  a  million  to  cut  a 
figure." 

"That  is  just  what  I  expected,"  said  C6sar  Birotteau. 
"  Oh !  you  think  I  am  very  foolish,  no  doubt,  but  I  am  not 
so  foolish  but  that  I  have  looked  at  the  thing  all  around. 
Attend  to  what  I  am  going  to  say.  Alexandre  Crottat  is  a 
son-in-law  that  would  suit  us  to  a  T,  and  he  will  have  Rognin's 
practice ;  but  do  you  imagine  that  he  would  be  satisfied  with 
a  hundred  thousand  francs?  (always  supposing  that  we  pay 
down  all  our  ready  money  when  we  marry  our  daughter;  and 
I  am  of  that  way  of  thinking,  for  I  would  have  nothing  but 
dry  bread  for  the  rest  of  my  days  to  see  her  as  happy  as  a 
queen  and  the  wife  of  a  Paris  notary,  as  you  say).  Very  well, 
but  a  hundred  thousand  francs  down,  or  even  eight  thousand 
francs  of  rentes,  would  go  no  way  toward  buying  Roguin's 
practice. 

"Young  Xandrot  (as  we  call  him)  thinks,  like  everybody 
else,  that  we  are  a  great  deal  richer  than  we  are.  If  that 
father  of  his,  a  rich  fanner  who  sticks  to  his  property  like  a 
leech,  does  not  sell  something  like  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
worth  of  land,  Xandrot  will  not  be  a  notary,  for  Roguin's 
practice  is  worth  four  or  five  hundred  thousand  francs.  If 
Crottat  does  not  pay  half  the  money  down,  how  will  he  man- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  11 

age  the  business  ?  Cesarine  ought  to  have  a  portion  of  two 
hundred  thousand  francs,  and  we  should  retire  like  decent 
citizens  of  Paris  on  fifteen  thousand  livres  a  year  in  the  funds ; 
that  is  what  I  should  like.  If  I  could  make  you  see  all  this  as 
clear  as  daylight,  you  would  have  nothing  left  to  say  for  your- 
self, eh?" 

"Oh  !  if  you  have  the  wealth  of  the  Indies "  his  wife 

returned. 

"So  I  have,  darling.  Yes,"  he  put  his  arm  round  his 
wife's  waist,  and  tapped  her  gently  with  his  fingers,  impelled 
by  the  joy  that  shone  from  every  feature  of  his  face.  "  I  did 
not  want  to  say  a  word  about  this  to  you  till  the  thing  was 
ripe,  but,  faith  !  to-morrow  perhaps  it  will  be  settled.  This 
is  it : 

"  Roguin  has  been  proposing  a  business  speculation  to  me, 
so  safe  that  he  and  one  or  two  of  his  clients,  and  Ragon,  and 
your  uncle  Pillerault,  are  going  into  it.  We  are  to  buy  some 
building  land  near  the  Madeleine.  Roguin  thinks  that  we 
can  buy  it  now  for  a  quarter  of  the  price  it  will  fetch  in  three 
years'  time  when  the  leases  will  be  out,  and  we  shall  be  free 
to  exploit  it.  There  are  six  of  us ;  each  agrees  to  take  so 
much  ;  I  am  finding  three  hundred  thousand  francs  for  the 
purchase  of  three-eighths.  If  any  of  us  are  short  of  money, 
Roguin  will  advance  it,  taking  a  mortgage  on  the  share  of  the 
land  as  security.  Pillerault,  old  Ragon,  and  I  are  going  to 
take  half  of  it  among  us ;  but  I  want  to  have  it  registered  in 
my  name,  so  as  to  keep  hold  of  the  handle  of  the  pan  and 
see  how  the  fish  are  frying.  Roguin  himself,  under  the  name 
of  Monsieur  Charles  Claparon,  will  be  joint-owner  with  me  ; 
he  will  give  a  guarantee  to  each  of  his  partners,  and  I  shall 
do  the  same  with  mine.  The  deeds  of  purchase  will  be  private 
deeds  until  we  have  all  the  land  in  our  hands.  Roguin  will 
look  into  it  and  see  which  of  the  purchases  must  be  com- 
pleted, for  he  is  not  sure  that  we  can  dispense  with  intermedi- 
ary registration,  and  yet  transfer  a  separate  title  to  the  buyers 


12  C&SAK  BIROTTEAU. 

when  we  break  up  the  estate  into  separate  lots;  but  it  would 
take  too  long  to  explain  it  to  you. 

"  When  the  building  land  has  been  paid  for,  we  shall  have 
nothing  to  do  but  fold  our  arms,  and  in  three  years'  time  we 
shall  have  a  million.  Cesarine  will  be  twenty  years  old,  we 
shall  have  sold  the  business,  and  then,  God  willing,  we  will 
go  modestly  toward  greatness." 

"  Well,  but  where  are  the  three  hundred  thousand  francs  to 
come  from?"  asked  Mme.  Birotteau. 

14  My  dear  little  woman,  you  know  nothing  of  business. 
There  are  the  hundred  thousand  francs  in  Roguin's  hands  ;  I 
will  pay  them  down.  Then  I  shall  borrow  forty  thousand 
francs  on  the  buildings  and  the  land  that  our  factory  stands 
on,  over  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and  we  have  twenty 
thousand  francs  in  bills  and  acceptances  in  the  portfolio— 
altogether  that  makes  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  francs. 
There  remain  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  to  be 
raised  ;  I  will  draw  bills  to  the  order  of  Charles  Claparon  the 
banker ;  he  will  advance  the  money,  less  the  discount.  And 
there  are  our  three  hundred  thousand  francs  :  and  you  don't 
owe  an  account  until  it  is  due.  When  the  bills  fall  due  we 
shall  be  ready  for  them  with  the  profits  of  the  business.  If 
we  should  find  any  difficulty  in  meeting  them,  Roguin  would 
lend  me  the  money  at  five  per  cent,  on  a  mortgage  on  my 
share  of  the  building  land.  But  there  is  no  need  to  borrow. 
I  have  discovered  a  specific  for  making  the  hair  grow,  a  Com- 
agen  oil.  Livingston  has  put  up  a  hydraulic  press  for  me 
down  yonder  for  the  hazelnuts  ;  all  the  oil  should  be  squeezed 
out  at  once  under  such  strong  pressure.  In  a  year's  time  the 
probabilities  are  that  I  shall  have  made  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  at  least.  I  am  thinking  about  a  placard  with  DOWN 
WITH  WIGS  !  for  a  heading.  It  would  make  a  prodigious 
sensation.  You  don't  notice  how  I  lie  awake.  These  three 
months  past  Macassar  Oil  has  not  let  me  sleep.  I  mean  to  do 
for  Macassar  !  " 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  13 

"  So  these  are  the  fine  plans  that  have  been  running  in  your 
head  for  a  couple  of  months,  and  not  a  word  to  me  about 
them.  And  I  have  just  seen  myself  begging  at  my  own  door; 
what  a  warning  from  heaven  !  There  will  be  nothing  left  to 
us  after  a  while  except  our  eyes  to  cry  with  over  our  troubles. 
Never  shall  you  do  it  so  long  as  I  am  alive ;  do  you  hear, 
Cesar  ?  There  is  some  underhand  work  somewhere  that  you 
do  not  see ;  you  are  so  straightforward  and  honest  that  you 
don't  suspect  others  of  cheating.  What  makes  them  come  to 
offer  you  millions?  You  are  giving  bills;  you  are  going  be- 
yond your  means ;  and  how  if  the  Oil  does  not  take  ?  Sup- 
pose that  the  money  does  not  come  in — suppose  that  you  do 
not  sell  the  building  lots,  how  are  you  going  to  meet  the  bills  ? 
With  the  hazelnut  shells  ?  You  want  to  rise  in  the  world ; 
you  don't  intend  to  have  your  name  over  your  own  store-door 
any  longer ;  you  mean  to  take  down  the  sign — the  Queen  of 
Roses — and  yet  you  are  making  up  rigmaroles  of  prospectuses 
and  placards,  and  Cesar  Birotteau's  name  will  be  posted  up  at 
every  street-corner  and  all  over  the  hoardings,  wherever  there 
is  building  going  on." 

"  Oh,  no  such  thing  !  I  shall  open  a  branch  business  under 
the  name  of  Popinot.  I  shall  take  a  store  somewhere  near 
the  Rue  des  Lombardes,  and  put  in  young  Anselme  Popinot 
to  look  after  it.  I  shall  pay  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  we  owe 
to  Monsieur  and  Madame  Ragon  by  starting  their  nephew  in 
a  business  that  may  make  his  fortune.  The  poor  Ragons  have 
looked  very  seedy  for  some  time  past,  I  have  thought." 

"  There  !  those  people  are  after  your  money." 

"Why,  what  people,  my  charmer?  Your  own  uncle  who 
loves  us  like  his  own  life,  and  comes  to  dine  here  every  Sun- 
day? Then  there  is  that  kind  old  Ragon,  our  predecessor, 
who  plays  boston  with  us;  old  Ragon,  with  a  record  of  forty 
years  of  fair  dealing.  And,  lastly,  do  you  mean  Roguin,  a 
notary  of  Paris,  a  man  of  fifty,  who  has  been  in  practice  for 
twenty-five  years  ?  A  notary  of  Paris  would  be  the  best  of 


14  C&SAK  BIROTTEAUi 

the  bunch  if  all  honest  folk  were  not  equally  good.  My 
partners  will  help  me  out  at  a  pinch.  Where  is  the  plot,  dar- 
ling? Look  here,  I  must  give  you  a  piece  of  my  mind.  On 
my  word  as  an  honest  man,  it  weighs  upon  me.  You  have 
always  been  as  suspicious  as  a  cat !  As  soon  as  we  had  five 
sous'  worth  of  goods  in  the  store,  you  began  to  think  that  the 
customers  were  thieves.  A  man  has  to  go  down  on  his  knees 
and  beg  and  pray  of  you  to  allow  your  fortune  to  be  made. 
For  a  daughter  of  Paris  you  have  scarcely  any  ambition  !  If 
it  were  not  for  your  eternal  fears,  there  would  not  be  a  happier 
man  than  I  am.  If  I  had  listened  to  you,  I  should  never 
have  made  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  nor  the  Carminative  Toilet 
Lotion.  We  have  made  a  living  out  of  the  store,  but  it  was 
those  two  discoveries  and  our  soaps  that  brought  in  the  hun- 
dred and  sixty  thousand  francs  which  we  have  over  and  above 
the  business  !  But  for  my  genius,  for  I  have  talent  as  a  per- 
fumer, we  should  be  petty  storekeepers,  hard  put  to  it  to  make 
both  ends  meet,  and  I  should  not  be  one  of  the  notable  mer- 
chants who  elect  the  judges  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce ;  I 
should  neither  have  been  a  judge  nor  a  deputy-mayor.  Do  you 
know  what  I  should  have  been  ?  A  storekeeper  like  old  Ragon — 
no  offense  to  him,  for  I  respect  stores ;  a  store  has  been  the 
making  of  us.  After  selling  perfumery  for  forty  years  we  should 
have  had  three  thousand  livres a  year,  as  he  has;  and  as  prices 
go  now,  when  things  are  twice  as  dear  as  they  used  to  be,  we  too 
should  have  had  hardly  enough  to  live  upon.  (Day  after  day, 
it  goes  to  my  heart  more  and  more  to  think  of  that  old  couple. 
I  must  come  at  the  truth  ;  I  will  have  it  out  of  Popinot  to- 
morrow.) Yes,  if  I  had  taken  advice  of  you,  of  you  that  are 
afraid  of  your  own  luck  and  are  always  asking  if  you  will 
have  to-morrow  what  you  hold  to-day,  I  should  have  no  credit, 
nor  the  cross  of  the  I>egion  of  Honor,  and  I  should  not  be 
looked  on  as  a  man  who  knows  what  he  is  about.  Oh,  you 
may  shake  your  head  ;  if  this  succeeds,  I  may  be  deputy  for 
Paris  some  day.  Aha  !  I  was  not  named  Cesar  for  nothing  ; 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  15 

everything  has  succeeded  with  me.  This  is  inconceivable ! 
Everybody  out  of  my  own  house  admits  that  I  have  some 
capacity;  but  here  at  home,  the  one  person  that  I  want  so 
much  to  please,  and  I  toil  and  moil  to  make  her  happy,  is  just 
the  very  one  who  takes  me  for  a  fool." 

There  was  such  a  depth  of  real  and  constant  affection  in 
these  phrases,  divided  up  by  eloquent  pauses,  and  hurled 
forth  like  cannon  balls  (as  is  the  wont  of  those  who  take  up 
a  recriminating  attitude),  that  Mme.  Birotteau  in  her  secret 
heart  felt  touched,  but,  wife-like,  she  took  advantage  of  the 
love  she  inspired  to  gain  her  own  ends. 

"Very  well,  Birotteau,"  said  she,  "  if  you  love  me,  let  me 
be  happy  in  my  own  way.  Neither  you  nor  I  have  had  any 
education  ;  we  do  not  know  how  to  talk,  nor  how  to  flatter 
like  worldly-wise  people,  and  how  can  you  expect  that  we 
should  succeed  in  office  under  Government  ?  I  myself  should 
be  quite  happy  at  the  Treasury  Farm.  I  have  always  been 
fond  of  animals  and  birds,  and  I  could  spend  my  time  quite 
well  in  looking  after  the  poultry,  and  living  like  a  farmer's 
wife.  Let  us  sell  the  business,  marry  our  C£sarine,  and  let 
your  '  Imogen  '  alone.  We  will  pass  the  winters  in  Paris  in 
our  son-in-law's  house,  and  we  shall  be  happy ;  nothing  in 
politics  nor  in  business  could  change  our  ways.  Why  should 
you  try  to  eclipse  other  people  ?  Is  not  our  fortune  enough 
for  us  ?  When  you  are  a  millionaire,  will  you  be  able  to  eat 
two  dinners  a  day?  Do  you  want  another  wife!  Look  at 
uncle  Pillerault  !  He  is  wisely  satisfied  with  what  he  has, 
and  spends  his  life  in  doing  good.  What  does  HE  want  with 
fine  furniture?  For  I  know  you  have  been  ordering  furni- 
ture ;  I  saw  Braschon  in  the  shop,  and  he  was  not  here  to  buy 
scent.  " 

"Well,  yes,  darling,  there  is  some  furniture  ordered  for 
you.  The  workmen  will  begin  to-morrow  under  an  architect 
recommended  by  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere." 

"  Good  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us  !  " 


16  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

11  Why,  you  are  unreasonable,  pet.  Do  you  think  that, 
fresh  and  pretty  as  you  are,  you  can  go  and  bury  yourself  at 
thirty-seven  at  Chinon  ?  I  myself,  thank  the  Lord,  am  only 
thirty-nine.  Chance  has  opened  up  a  fine  career  to  me,  and 
I  am  going  to  enter  upon  it.  If  I  manage  wisely,  I  can  found 
a  house  famous  among  Paris  citizens,  as  people  used  to  do, 
build  up  a  business,  and  the  Birotteaus  shall  be  like  Roguin, 
Cochin,  Guillaume,  Le  Bas,  Nucingen,  Saillard,  Popinot,  and 
Matifat,  all  of  whom  are  making,  or  have  made,  their  mark 
in  their  quarter.  Come  I  come  !  if  this  speculation  were  not 
as  safe  as  gold  ingots " 

"Safe!" 

"  Yes,  safe.  I  have  been  reckoning  it  out  these  two  months. 
Without  appearing  to  do  so,  I  have  been  making  inquiries  as 
to  building,  at  the  H6tel  de  Ville,  and  of  architects  and  con- 
tractors. Monsieur  Grindot,  the  young  architect  who  is  to 
remodel  our  place,  is  in  despair  because  he  has  no  capital  to 
invest  in  our  speculation." 

"  He  knows  that  there  will  be  houses  to  build  ;  he  is  urging 
you  on  so  as  to  gobble  you  up." 

"  Can  people  like  Pillerault,  like  Charles  Claparon,  and 
Roguin  be  taken  in  ?  The  gain  is  as  certain  as  the  profits  on 
the  P&te,  you  see." 

"  But  why  should  Roguin  want  to  speculate,  dear,  when 
he  has  bought  his  practice  and  made  his  fortune?  I  see  him 
go  by  sometimes;  he  looks  as  thoughtful  as  a  minister; 
he  has  an  underhand  look  that  I  do  not  like  ;  he  has  secret 
cares. .  In  five  years  he  has  come  to  look  like  an  old  rake. 
Whose  word  have  you  for  it  that  he  will  not  take  to  his 
heels  as  soon  as  your  money  is  in  his  hands?  Such  things 
have  been  known.  Do  we  know  much  about  him  ?  It  is 
true  that  we  have  been  acquainted  for  fifteen  years,  but  he 
is  not  one  that  I  would  put  my  hands  into  the  fire  for.  I 
have  it!  he  has  ozaena;  he  does  not  live  with  his  wife; 
he  has  mistresses  no  doubt,  and  they  are  ruining  him ; 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  17 

there  is  no  other  reason  for  his  low  spirits  that  I  see.  As 
I  dress  in  the  morning,  I  look  through  the  blinds,  and  I 
see  him  going  home  on  foot.  Where  does  he  come  from? 
Nobody  knows.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  he  had  another  es- 
tablishment somewhere  in  town,  and  he  spends  one  way 
and  madame  another. 

"Is  that  a  life  for  a  notary?  If  they  make  fifty  thou- 
sand francs  and  get  through  sixty  thousand,  there  will  be 
an  end  of  the  money ;  in  twenty  years'  time  they  would  be 
as  bare  as  shorn  lambs;  but  if  a  man  is  used  to  shine, 
he  will  plunder  his  friends  without  mercy.  Charity  should 
properly  begin  at  home.  That  little  rascal  du  Tillet,  who 
used  to  be  with  us,  is  one  of  his  cronies,  and  I  see  nothing 
good  in  that  friendship.  If  he  could  not  find  out  du  Tillet 
he  is  very  blind ;  and  if  he  knows  him,  why  does  he  make 
so  much  of  him?  You  will  say  that  there  is  something 
between  Roguin's  wife  and  du  Tillet.  Very  well ;  I  look 
for  no  good  from  a  man  who  has  no  sense  of  honor  where 
his  wife  is  concerned.  And  in  any  case,  aren't  the  owners 
of  the  building  lots  very  stupid  to  sell  the  worth  of  a  hun- 
dred francs  for  a  hundred  sous  ?  If  you  were  to  meet  a 
child  who  did  not  know  what  a  louis  was  worth,  would 
you  not  tell  him?  Your  stroke  of  business  looks  to  me 
myself  very  much  like  a  robbery,  no  offense  to  you." 

"  Dear  me !  what  queer  things  women  are  sometimes, 
and  how  they  mix  up  their  ideas !  If  Roguin  had  never 
meddled  in  the  matter,  you  would  have  said,  '  Stay,  Cesar, 
stop  a  bit ;  you  are  acting  without  consulting  Roguin,  it  will 
come  to  no  good.'  In  this  present  instance  he  is  pledged  as 
it  were,  and  you  tell  me " 

"  No  ;  it  is  a  Monsieur  Claparon." 

"But  a  notary's  name  cannot  appear  in  a  speculation." 

"Then    why  should    he    do  something   against  the   law? 
What  do  you  say  to  that,  you  who  are  such  a  stickler  for  the 
law?" 
2 


18  C&SAX  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Just  let  me  go  on.  Roguin  is  going  into  it  himself,  and 
you  tell  me  that  it  will  come  to  no  good.  Is  that  sensible  ? 
Again  you  say,  '  He  is  doing  something  against  the  law.' 
But  his  name  will  appear  in  it  if  necessary.  And  now  you 
tell  me  that  '  he  is  rich.'  Might  not  people  say  as  much  of 
me?  Ragon  and  Pillerault  might  just  as  well  say  of  me, 
'Why  are  you  going  into  this  when  you  are  wallowing  in 
riches?'" 

"A  tradesman  is  one  thing  and  a  notary  another,"  ob- 
jected Mme.  Birotteau. 

"In  short,  my  conscience  is  quite  clear,"  Cesar  went  on. 
"  People  who  sell,  sell  because  they  cannot  help  it ;  we  are 
no  more  robbing  them  than  we  rob  fund-holders  when  we  buy 
at  seventy-five.  To-day  you  buy  building  lots  at  to-day's 
prices ;  in  two  years'  time  it  will  be  different,  just  as  it  is 
with  rentes.  You  may  be  quite  sure,  Constance-Barbe-Jos6- 
phine  Pillerault,  that  you  will  never  catch  Cesar  Birotteau 
doing  anything  that  is  against  the  law,  nor  against  his  con- 
science, nor  unscrupulous,  or  not  strictly  just  and  fair.  That 
a  man  who  has  been  in  business  eighteen  years  should  be 
suspected  in  his  own  family  of  cheating  !  " 

"  Come,  Cesar,  be  pacified  !  A  wife  who  has  known  you 
all  that  time  knows  the  depths  of  your  soul.  You  are  the 
master  after  all.  You  made  the  money,  didn't  you?  It  is 
yours ;  you  can  spend  it.  We  might  be  brought  to  the  lowest 
depths  of  poverty,  but  neither  your  daughter  nor  I  would  ever 
say  a  single  word  of  reproach.  But  listen.  When  you  in- 
vented the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Carminative  Toilet 
Lotion,  what  risk  did  you  run?  Five  or  six  thousand  francs 
perhaps.  To-day  you  are  risking  all  you  have  on  a  single 
stake,  and  you  are  not  the  only  player  in  this  game,  and  some 
of  the  others  may  turn  out  sharper  than  you  are. 

"  You  could  give  this  ball  and  have  the  rooms  redecorated, 
and  spend  a  thousand  francs  over  it — a  useless  expense,  but 
not  ruinous — but  as  to  the  Madeleine  affair,  I  am  against  it, 


C&SAR   BIROTTEAU.  19 

once  and  for  all.  Your  are  a  perfumer ;  be  a  perfumer  and 
not  a  speculator  in  building  land.  We  women  have  an  in- 
stinct that  does  not  lead  us  astray.  I  have  warned  you ;  now 
act  on  your  own  ideas.  You  have  been  a  judge  at  the  Tri- 
bunal of  Commerce,  you  know  the  law,  you  have  steered  your 
boat  wisely,  and  I  will  follow  you,  Cesar !  But  I  shall  have 
misgivings  until  I  see  our  fortune  on  a  sound  basis  and  Cesar- 
ine  well  married.  God  send  that  my  dream  was  not  pro- 
phetic!" 

This  meekness  was  annoying  to  Birotteau.  He  had  recourse 
to  a  simple  stratagem,  which  he  found  useful  on  such  occasions. 

"Listen,  Constance;  I  have  not  really  given  my  word, 
though  it  is  as  good  as  if  I  had." 

"  Oh !  Cesar,  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said,  so  let  us 
say  no  more  about  it.  Honor  before  riches.  Come,  get 
into  bed,  dear  ;  there  is  no  firewood  left.  Beside,  it  is  easier 
to  talk  in  bed  if  it  amuses  you.  Oh  !  the  bad  dream  I  had  ! 
Good  Lord,  to  see  yourself !  Why,  it  was  fearful  !  Cesarine 
and  I  will  make  a  pretty  number  of  novenas  for  the  success 
of  the  land." 

"  Of  course,  the  help  of  God  would  do  us  no  harm," 
Birotteau  said  gravely,  "but  the  essence  of  hazelnuts  is  a 
power  likewise,  wife.  I  discovered  this,  like  the  Pate  des 
Sultanes,  by  accident ;  the  first  time  it  was  by  opening  a  book, 
but  it  was  an  engraving  of  '  Hero  and  Leander '  that  sug- 
gested this  new  idea  to  me.  A  woman,  you  know,  pouring 
oil  on  her  lover's  head;  isn't  it  nice?  The  most  certain 
speculations  are  those  that  are  based  on  vanity,  self-love,  or 
a  regard  for  appearances.  Those  sentiments  will  never  be 
extinct." 

"Alas,  I  see  that  clearly." 

"At  a  certain  age,"  pursued  Birotteau,  "  men  will  do  any- 
thing to  grow  hair  on  their  heads  when  they  have  none. 
.Hairdressers  have  told  me  for  some  time  past  that  they  are 
selling  hair-dyes  and  all  sorts  of  drugs  that  are  said  to  pro- 


80  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

mote  the  growth  of  the  hair  as  well  as  Macassar  Oil.  Since 
the  peace,  men  live  more  among  women,  and  women  do  not 
like  bald  heads,  eh !  eh  !  pet !  So  the  demand  for  that 
class  of  article  can  be  explained  by  the  political  situation. 

"A  composition  which  would  keep  your  hair  in  good  con- 
dition would  sell  like  bread,  and  all  the  more  so  because  the 
essence  will  doubtless  be  approved  by  the  Academic  des 
Sciences.  Perhaps  kind  Monsieur  Vauquelin  will  do  me 
another  good  turn.  I  shall  go  to  submit  my  notion  to  him 
to-morrow,  and  ask  him  to  accept  that  engraving  which  I  have 
found  at  last  after  inquiring  for  it  for  two  years  in  Germany. 
Monsieur  Vauquelin  is  engaged  in  analyzing  hair,  precisely 
the  subject,  so  Chiffreville  (who  is  associated  with  him  in  the 
production  of  chemicals)  tells  me.  If  my  discovery  concurs 
with  his,  my  essence  will  be  bought  by  both  sexes.  There  is 
a  fortune  in  my  idea,  I  repeat.  Good  heavens !  I  cannot 
sleep  for  it.  Eh !  luckily,  little  Popinot  has  the  finest  head 
of  hair  in  the  world.  With  a  young  lady  in  the  shop  whose 
hair  should  reach  to  the  ground,  and  who  should  say  (if  the 
thing  is  possible  without  sinning  against  God  or  your  neighbor) 
that  the  Comagen  Oil  (for  it  is  decidedly  an  oil)  counts  for 
something  in  bringing  that  about ;  all  the  grizzled  heads  will 
be  down  upon  it  like  poverty  upon  the  world.  And  I  say, 
dearie,  how  about  your  ball  ?  I  am  not  spiteful,  but  I  really 
should  like  to  have  that  little  rogue  of  a  du  Tillet,  who 
swaggers  about  and  never  sees  me  on  'Change.  He  knows 
that  I  know  something  that  is  not  pretty  about  him.  Perhaps 
I  let  him  off  too  easily.  How  funny  it  is,  wife,  that  one 
should  always  be  punished  for  good  actions ;  here  below,  of 
course  !  I  have*  been  like  a  father  to  him  ;  you  do  not  know 
all  that  I  have  done  for  him." 

"Simply  to  hear  you  talk  of  him  makes  my  flesh  creep. 
If  you  had  known  what  he  intended  to  do  to  you,  you  would 
not  have  kept  the  theft  of  three  thousand  francs  so  quiet  (for 
I  have  guessed  how  the  thing  was  arranged).  If  you  had  put 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  21 

him  in  the  police  court,  perhaps  you  might  have  done  a  good 
many  people  a  service." 

"  What  did  he  mean  to  do  to  me  ?  " 

"  Nothing.  Birotteau,  if  you  were  inclined  to  listen  to  me 
to-night,  I  would  give  you  a  bit  of  sound  advice,  and  that  is 
to  let  du  Tillet  alone." 

"  Would  not  people  think  it  very  strange  if  I  were  to  forbid 
an  old  assistant  my  house  after  I  had  been  his  surety  for  twenty 
thousand  francs  when  he  first  started  in  business  for  himself? 
There,  let  us  do  good  for  its  own  sake.  And  perhaps  du 
Tillet  has  mended  his  ways." 

"  Everything  must  be  put  topsy-turvy  here  !  " 

"  What  is  this  about  topsy-turvy  ?  Why,  it  will  all  be  ruled 
like  a  sheet  of  music.  So  you  have  forgotten  already  what  I 
have  just  told  you  about  the  staircase,  and  how  I  have  ar- 
ranged with  Cayron,  the  umbrella  merchant  next  door,  to 
take  part  of  his  house !  He  and  I  must  go  together  in  the 
morning  to  see  his  landlord,  Monsieur  Molineux.  I  have  as 
much  business  on  hand  to-morrow  as  a  minister." 

"You  have  made  me  dizzy  with  your  plans,"  said  Con- 
stance; "I  am  muddled  with  them;  and,  beside,  Birotteau, 
I  am  sleepy." 

"  Good-morning,"  returned  her  husband.  "  Just  listen — 
I  say  good-morning,  because  it  is  morning  now,  pet !  Ah  ! 
she  has  dropped  off  to  sleep,  dear  child  !  There  !  you  shall 
be  the  richest  of  the  rich,  or  my  name  will  not  be  Cesar  any 
longer,"  and  a  few  minutes  later  Constance  and  Cesar  were 
peacefully  snoring. 

A  rapid  glance  over  the  previous  history  of  this  household 
will  confirm  the  impression  which  should  have  been  conveyed 
by  the  friendly  dispute  between  the  two  principal  personages 
in  this  scene,  in  which  the  lives  of  a  retail  storekeeper  and  his 
wife  are  depicted.  This  sketch  will  explain,  moreover,  the 
strange  chances  by  which  Cesar  Birotteau  became  a  perfumer, 


22  C&SAK  B1ROTTEAU. 

a  deputy-mayor,  an  ex-officer  of  the  National  Guard,  and  a 
chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  By  laying  bare  the  depths 
of  his  character  and  the  springs  of  his  greatness,  it  will  be 
possible  to  comprehend  how  it  is  that  the  vicissitudes  of  com- 
merce, which  strong  heads  turn  to  their  advantage,  become 
irreparable  catastrophes  for  weaker  spirits.  Events  are  never 
absolute ;  their  consequences  depend  entirely  upon  the  indi- 
vidual. The  misfortune  which  is  a  stepping-stone  for  genius 
becomes  a  chapel  for  the  Christian,  a  treasure  for  a  quick- 
witted man,  and  for  weaklings  an  abyss. 

A  cotter,  Jacques  Birotteau  by  name,  living  near  Chinon, 
took  unto  himself  a  wife,  a  domestic  servant  in  the  house  of 
a  lady,  who  employed  him  in  her  vineyard.  Three  sons  were 
born  to  them ;  his  wife  died  at  the  birth  of  the  third,  and  the 
poor  fellow  did  not  long  survive  her.  Then  the  mistress,  out 
of  affection  for  her  maid,  adopted  the  oldest  of  the  cotter's 
boys;  she  brought  him  up  with  her  own  son,  and  placed  him 
in  a  seminary.  This  Francois  Birotteau  took  orders,  and 
during  the  Revolution  led  the  wandering  life  of  priests  who 
would  not  take  the  oath,  hiding  from  those  who  hunted  them 
down  like  wild  beasts,  lucky  to  meet  with  no  worse  fate  than 
the  guillotine.  At  the  time  when  this  story  begins  he  was  a 
priest  of  the  cathedral  at  Tours,  and  had  but  once  left  that 
city  to  see  his  brother  Cesar.  On  that  occasion  the  traffic  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  so  bewildered  the  good  man  that  he  dared 
not  leave  his  room ;  he  called  the  cabs  "half-coaches,"  and 
was  astonished  at  everything.  He  stayed  one  week,  and  then 
went  back  to  Tours,  promising  himself  that  he  would  never 
revisit  the  capital. 

The  vine-dresser's  second  son,  Jean  Birotteau,  was  drawn 
by  the  army,  and  during  the  early  wars  of  the  Revolution 
promptly  became  a  captain.  At  the  battle  of  the  Trebbia, 
Macdonald  called  for  volunteers  to  storm  a  battery,  and  Cap- 
tain Jean  Birotteau  charged  with  his  company  and  fell.  It 


C&SAR    BIROTTEAU.  28 

appeared  to  be  the  destiny  of  the  Birotteaus  that  other  men 
should  supplant  them,  or  that  events  should  be  too  strong  for 
them  wherever  they  might  be. 

The  youngest  son  is  the  chief  actor  in  this  scene.  When 
Cesar  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  could  read,  write,  and 
cipher,  he  left  the  district,  and  with  one  louis  in  his  pocket  set 
out  on  foot  for  Paris  to  make  his  fortune.  On  the  recommen- 
dation of  an  apothecary  in  Tours,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon,  re- 
tail perfumers,  took  him  as  errand  boy.  Cesar  at  that  time 
was  possessed  of  a  pair  of  hobnailed  shoes,  a  pair  of  breeches, 
blue  stockings,  a  sprigged  vest,  a  countryman's  jacket,  three 
ample  shirts  of  good  linen,  and  a  stout  walking-cane.  His 
hair  might  be  clipped  like  a  chorister's,  but  he  was  a  solidly 
built  Tourangeau ;  and  any  tendency  to  the  laziness  rampant 
in  his  district  was  counteracted  in  him  by  a  strong  desire  to 
make  his  way  in  the  world.  Perhaps  he  was  lacking  some- 
what in  brains  as  in  education,  but  he  had  inherited  upright 
instincts  and  scrupulous  integrity  from  his  mother,  who  had 
"  a  heart  of  gold,"  as  they  say  in  Touraine. 

Cesar  was  paid  six  francs  a  month  by  way  of  wages.  He 
boarded  in  the  house,  and  slept  on  a  truckle-bed  in  the  attics 
next  to  the  servant's  room.  The  clerks  showed  him  how  to 
fetch  and  carry  and  tie  up  parcels,  to  sweep  out  the  store  and 
the  pavement  before  it,  and  made  a  butt  of  him,  breaking 
him  in  to  business  after  the  manner  of  their  kind,  and  contriv- 
ing to  blend  a  good  deal  of  amusement  (for  themselves)  with 
his  instruction.  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  spoke  to  him  as  if  he 
were  a  dog.  Nobody  cared  how  tired  the  apprentice  might 
be,  and  he  was  often  very  tired  and  footsore  of  a  night  after 
tramping  over  the  pavements,  and  his  shoulders  often  ached. 
The  principle  "each  for  himself,"  that  gospel  of  great  cities, 
put  in  application,  made  Cesar's  life  in  Paris  a  very  hard  one. 
He  used  to  cry  sometimes  when  the  day  was  over  and  he 
thought  of  Touraine,  where  the  peasant  works  leisurely  and 
the  mason  takes  his  time  about  laying  a  stone,  and  toil  is 


24  C&SAR   BIROTTEAU. 

judiciously  tempered  by  idleness ;  but  he  usually  fell  asleep 
before  he  reached  the  point  of  thinking  of  running  away,  for 
his  morning's  round  of  work  awaited  him,  and  he  did  his 
duty  with  the  instinctive  obedience  of  a  yard  dog.  If  he 
happened  to  complain,  the  first  clerk  would  smile  jocosely. 
"  Ah,  my  boy,"  said  he,  "  life  is  not  all  roses  at  the  Queen 
of  Roses,  and  larks  don't  drop  ready  roasted  into  your  mouth ; 
first  catch  your  lark,  and  then  you  want  the  other  things  before 
you  cook  it." 

The  cook,  a  stout  Picarde,  kept  the  best  morsels  for  her- 
self, and  never  spoke  to  Cesar  but  to  complain  of  M.  and 
Mine.  Ragon,  who  left  her  nothing  to  purloin.  On  one 
Sunday  at  the  end  of  every  month  she  was  obliged  to  stop  in 
the  house,  and  then  she  broke  ground  with  Cesar.  Ursule, 
scoured  for  Sunday,  was  a  charming  creature  in  the  eyes  of 
the  poor  errand  boy,  who,  but  for  a  chance,  was  about  to 
make  shipwreck  on  the  first  sunken  reef  in  his  career.  Like 
all  human  beings  who  have  no  one  to  care  for  them,  he  fell  in 
love  with  the  first  woman  who  gave  him  a  kind  glance.  The 
cook  took  Cesar  under  her  wing  and  secret  love  passages 
followed,  at  which  the  assistants  jeered  unmercifully.  Luck- 
ily, two  years  later,  the  cook  threw  over  Cesar  for  a  young 
runaway  from  the  army,  a  fellow-countryman  of  hers  who  was 
hiding  in  Paris;  and  the  Picard,  a  landowner  to  the  extent 
of  several  acres,  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into  a  marriage 
with  Ursule. 

But  during  those  two  years  the  cook  fed  her  lad  Cesar  well, 
and  explained  to  him  the  seamy  side  of  not  a  few  of  the  mys- 
teries of  Paris.  Motives  of  jealousy  led  her  to  instil  into  him 
a  perfect  horror  of  low  haunts,  whose  perils  seemingly  were  not 
unknown  to  her.  In  1792  C6sar,  the  basely  deserted,  had 
grown  accustomed  to  his  life  ;  his  feet  were  used  to  the  pave- 
ments, his  shoulders  accommodated  to  packing-cases,  his  wits 
to  what  he  called  the  humbug  of  Paris.  So,  when  Ursule 
threw  him  over,  he  promptly  took  comfort,  for  she  had  not 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  25 

realized  any  of  his  intuitive  ideas  as  to  sentiments.  Lasciv- 
ious, bad-tempered,  fawning,  and  rapacious,  a  selfish  woman, 
given  to  drink,  she  had  jarred  on  Birotteau's  unsophisticated 
nature  and  had  opened  out  no  fair  future  to  him.  At  times 
the  poor  boy  saw  with  dismay  that  he  was  bound  by  the 
strongest  of  ties,  for  a  simple  heart,  to  a  creature  with  whom  he 
had  no  sympathy.  By  the  time  that  he  was  set  free  he  had 
developed  and  had  reached  the  age  of  sixteen.  His  wits  had 
been  sharpened  by  Ursule  and  by  the  clerk's  jokes;  he  set 
himself  to  learn  the  business.  Intelligence  was  hidden  beneath 
his  simplicity.  He  watched  the  customers  with  shrewd  eyes. 
In  his  spare  moments  he  asked  for  explanations  concerning 
the  goods ;  he  remembered  where  everything  was  kept ;  one 
fine  day  he  knew  the  goods,  prices,  and  quantities  in  stock 
better  than  the  newer  comers,  and  thenceforward  M.  and 
Mme.  Ragon  looked  on  him  as  a  settled  institution. 

When  the  requisition  of  the  terrible  year  II.  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  Citizen  Ragon's  house,  Cesar  Birotteau,  promoted  to 
be  second  assistant,  improved  his  position,  received  a  salary 
of  fifty  livres  per  month,  and  seated  himself  at  the  Ragons' 
table  with  joy  unspeakable.  The  second  assistant  at  the  sign 
of  the  Queen  of  Roses  had  by  this  time  saved  six  hundred 
francs,  and  he  now  had  a  room  filled  with  furniture  such  as  he 
had  for  a  long  time  coveted,  in  which  he  could  keep  the  be- 
longings which  he  had  accumulated,  under  lock  and  key.  On 
D6cadis,*  dressed  after  the  fashion  of  an  epoch  which  affected 
rough  and  homely  ways,  the  quiet,  humble  peasant  lad  looked 
at  least  the  equal  of  other  young  citizens,  and  in  this  way  he 
overleaped  the  social  barriers  which  in  domestic  life  would,  in 
different  times,  have  been  raised  between  the  peasant  and  the 
trading  classes.  Toward  the  end  of  that  year  his  honesty  won 
for  him  the  control  of  the  till.  The  awe-inspiring  Citizeness 
Ragon  saw  to  his  linen,  and  husband  and  wife  treated  him 
like  one  of  the  family. 

*  Each  tenth  day,  replacing  Sunday. 


26  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

In  Vendemiaire  1794  Cesar  Birotteau,  being  possessed  of 
one  hundred  gold  louis,  exchanged  them  for  six  thousand 
francs  in  assignats,  bought  rentes  therewith  at  thirty  francs, 
paid  for  them  when  depreciated  prices  ruled  on  the  Exchange, 
and  hoarded  his  stock-receipt  with  unspeakable  delight.  From 
that  day  forward  he  followed  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  funds  and 
the  course  of  events  with  a  secret  anxiety  that  made  his  heart 
beat  fast  at  the  tidings  of  every  victory  or  defeat  which  marked 
the  history  of  that  period. 

At  this  critical  period  M.  Ragon,  sometime  purveyor  of 
perfumes  to  her  majesty  Queen  Marie-Antoinette,  confided  to 
Cesar  Birotteau  his  attachment  to  the  fallen  tyrants.  This 
confidence  was  an  event  of  capital  importance  in  Cesar's  life. 
The  Tourangeau  was  transformed  into  a  fanatical  adherent  of 
royalty  in  the  course  of  the  evening  conversations  after  the 
shutters  were  put  up,  the  books  posted,  and  the  streets  quiet 
without.  Cesar  was  simply  obeying  his  natural  instincts. 
His  imagination  kindled  at  the  tale  of  the  virtuous  deeds  of 
Louis  XVI.,  followed  by  anecdotes  told  by  husband  and  wife 
of  the  good  qualities  of  the  Queen  whom  they  extolled.  His 
tender  heart  was  revolted  by  the  horrible  fate  of  the  two 
crowned  heads,  struck  off  but  a  few  paces  from  the  store-door, 
and  he  conceived  a  hatred  for  a  system  of  government  which 
poured  forth  innocent  blood  that  cost  nothing  to  shed. 

Commercial  instincts  made  him  quick  to  see  the  death  of 
trade  in  the  law  of  maximum  prices,  and  in  political  storms, 
which  always  bode  ill  to  business.  In  his  quality  of  perfumer, 
moreover,  he  loathed  a  Revolution  that  forbade  powder  and 
was  responsible  for  the  fashion  of  wearing  the  hair  cropped. 
The  tranquillity  secured  to  the  nation  by  an  absolute  monarchy 
seemed  to  be  the  one  possible  condition  in  which  life  and 
property  would  be  safe,  so  he  waxed  zealous  for  a  monarchy. 

M.  Ragon,  finding  so  apt  a  disciple,  made  him  his  assistant 
in  the  shop,  and  initiated  him  into  the  secrets  of  the  Queen 
of  Roses.  Some  of  the  customers  were  the  most  active  and 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  27 

devoted  of  the  secret  agents  of  the  Bourbons  and  kept  up  a 
correspondence  between  Paris  and  the  west.  Carried  away 
by  youthful  enthusiasm,  electrified  by  contact  with  such  men 
as  Georges,  La  Billardiere,  Montauran,  Bauvan,  Longuy, 
Manda,  Bernier,  du  Gu6nic,  and  Fontaine,  Cesar  flung  him- 
self into  the  conspiracy  of  the  i3th  Vendemiaire,  when  Roy- 
alists and  Terrorists  combined  against  the  dying  Convention. 

Cesar  had  the  honor  of  warring  against  Napoleon  on  the 
steps  of  the  church  of  Saint-Roch,  and  was  wounded  at  the 
beginning  of  the  action.  Every  one  knows  the  result  of  this 
attempt.  The  obscurity  from  which  Barras'  aide-de-camp 
then  emerged  was  Birotteau's  salvation.  A  few  friends  carried 
the  bellicose  counterhand  home  to  the  Queen  of  Roses,  where 
he  lay  in  hiding  in  the  garret,  nursed  by  Mme.  Ragon,  and 
lucky  to  be  forgotten.  Cesar's  military  courage  had  been 
nothing  but  a  flash.  During  his  month  of  convalescence  he 
came  to  some  sound  conclusions  as  to  the  ludicrous  alliance 
of  politics  and  perfumery.  If  a  Royalist  he  remained,  he 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  be  simply  and  solely  a  Roy- 
alist perfumer,  that  he  would  never  compromise  himself  again, 
and  he  threw  himself  body  and  soul  into  his  calling. 

After  the  i8th  Brumaire,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon,  despairing 
of  the  Royalist  cause,  determined  to  retire  from  the  perfumery 
trade,  to  live  like  respectable  private  citizens,  and  to  cease 
to  meddle  in  politics.  If  they  were  to  receive  the  full  value 
of  their  business,  it  behooved  them  to  find  a  man  who  had 
more  honesty  than  ambition,  and  more  homely  sense  than 
brilliancy,  so  Ragon  broached  the  matter  to  his  first  assistant. 
Birottean  hesitated.  He  was  twenty  years  old,  with  a  thou- 
sand francs  a  year  invested  in  the  public  funds;  it  was  his 
ambition  to  go  to  live  near  Chinon  as  soon  as  he  should  have 
fifteen  hundred  francs  a  year,  and  the  First  Consul,  after  con- 
solidating his  position  at  the  Tuileries,  should  have  consoli- 
dated the  national  debt.  He  asked  himself  why  he  should 
risk  his  little  honestly  earned  independence  in  business.  He 


28  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

had  never  expected  to  make  so  much  wealth ;  it  was  entirely 
owing  to  chances  which  are  only  embraced  in  youth;  and 
now  he  was  thinking  of  taking  a  wife  in  Touraine,  a  woman 
who  should  have  an  equal  fortune,  so  that  he  might  buy  and 
cultivate  a  little  property  called  the  Treasury  Farm,  a  bit  of 
land  on  which  he  had  set  longing  eyes  since  he  had  come 
to  man's  estate.  He  dreamed  of  adding  more  land  to  the 
Treasury  Farm,  of  making  a  thousand  crowns  a  year,  of  lead- 
ing a  happy  and  obscure  life  there.  He  was  on  the  point  of 
refusing  the  perfumer's  offer  when  love  suddenly  altered  his 
former  resolutions  and  multiplied  the  sum-total  of  his  ambi- 
tions by  ten. 

Since  Ursule's  base  desertion,  Cesar  had  led  a  steady  life ; 
this  was  partly  a  consequence  of  hard  work,  partly  a  dread  of 
the  risks  run  in  pursuit  of  pleasure  in  Paris.  Desire  that  re- 
mains unsatisfied  becomes  a  craving,  and  marriage  for  the 
lower  middle  classes  becomes  a  fixed  idea,  for  it  is  the  one 
way  open  to  them  of  winning  and  appropriating  a  woman. 
Cesar  Birotteau  was  in  this  case.  The  first  assistant  was  the 
responsible  person  at  the  Queen  of  Roses  ;  he  had  not  a  mo- 
ment to  spare  for  amusement.  In  such  a  life  the  craving  is 
still  more  imperatively  felt ;  so  it  happened  that  the  apparition 
of  a  handsome  girl,  to  whom  a  dissipated  young  fellow  would 
scarcely  have  given  a  thought,  was  bound  to  make  the  greatest 
impression  on  the  steady  Cesar. 

One  fine  June  day,  as  he  was  about  to  cross  the  Pont  Marie 
to  the  He  Saint-Louis,  he  saw  a  girl  standing  in  the  doorway 
of  a  corner  store  on  the  Quai  d' Anjou.  Constance  Pillerault 
was  a  forewoman  in  a  dry  goods  establishment,  at  the  sign  of 
the  Little  Sailor,  a  pioneer  instance  of  a  kind  of  store  which 
has  since  spread  all  over  Paris,  with  painted  signboards  more 
or  less  in  evidence,  flying  flags,  much  display.  Shawls  are 
suspended  in  the  windows,  and  piles  of  cravats  erected  like 
card  castles,  together  with  countless  devices  to  attract  custom, 
ribbon  streamers,  showcards,  notices  of  fixed  prices ;  optical 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  29 

illusions  and  effects  carried  to  the  pitch  of  perfection  which 
has  made  of  store  windows  the  fairyland  of  commerce. 

The  low  prices  asked  at  the  sign  of  the  Little  Sailor  for  the 
goods  described  as  "  novelties  "  had  brought  this  store,  in 
one  of  the  quietest  and  least  fashionable  quarters  of  Paris,  an 
unheard-of  influx  of  custom. 

The  aforesaid  young  lady  behind  the  counter  was  as  cele- 
brated for  her  beauty  as  "La  belle  Limonadiere  "  of  the 
Cafe  des  Milles  Colonnes  at  a  later  day,  and  not  a  few  others 
whose  unfortunate  lot  it  has  been  to  attract  faces,  young  and 
old,  more  numerous  than  the  paving-stones  of  Paris,  to  the 
windows  of  milliners'  stores  and  cafes.  The  first  assistant 
from  the  Queen  of  Roses,  whose  life  was  spent  between  Saint- 
Roch  and  the  Rue  de  la  Sourdiere,  in  the  daily  routine  of 
the  perfumery  business,  did  not  so  much  as  suspect  the  exist- 
ence of  the  Little  Sailor,  for  retailers  in  Paris  know  very 
little  of  each  other. 

Cesar  was  so  violently  smitten  with  the  beautiful  Constance 
that  he  hurried  tempestuously  into  the  Little  Sailor  to  bargain 
for  a  half-dozen  linen  shirts.  Long  did  he  haggle  over  the 
price,  bale  after  bale  of  linen  was  displayed  for  his  inspection ; 
he  behaved  exactly  like  an  Englishwoman  in  a  humor  for 
shopping.  The  young  lady  condescended  to  interest  herself 
in  Cesar's  purchase ;  perceiving,  by  certain  signs  which  women 
understand,  that  he  had  come  to  the  shop  more  for  the  sake 
of  the  saleswoman  than  for  her  goods.  He  gave  his  name 
and  address  to  the  young  lady,  who  became  quite  indifferent 
to  the  customer's  admiration  as  soon  as  he  had  made  his  pur- 
chase. The  poor  assistant  had  done  but  little  to  gain  Ursule's 
good  graces ;  if  he  had  been  sheepish  then,  love  now  made 
him  more  sheepish  still ;  he  did  not  dare  to  say  a  syllable, 
and  was,  moreover,  too  much  dazzled  to  note  the  indifference 
which  succeeded  to  the  smiles  of  this  siren  of  commerce. 

Every  evening  for  a  week  he  took  up  his  post  before  the 
Little  Sailor,  hanging  about  for  a  glance  as  a  dog  waits  for  a 


30  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

bone  at  a  kitchen-door ;  regardless  of  the  gibes  in  which  the 
clerks  and  saleswomen  indulged  at  his  expense ;  making  way 
meekly  for  customers  or  passers-by,  watchful  of  every  little 
change  that  took  place  in  the  store.  A  few  days  later,  he 
again  entered  the  paradise  where  his  angel  dwelt,  not  so 
much  to  purchase  pocket-handkerchiefs  of  her  as  with  a  view 
of  communicating  a  luminous  idea  to  the  angel's  mind. 

"If  you  should  require  any  perfumery,  mademoiselle,"  he 
remarked,  as  he  paid  the  bill,  "  I  could  supply  you  in  the 
same  way." 

Constance  Pillerault  daily  received  brilliant  proposals  in 
which  there  was  never  any  mention  of  marriage ;  and  though 
her  heart  was  as  pure  as  her  white  forehead,  it  was  not  until 
the  indefatigable  Cesar  had  proved  his  love  by  six  months  of 
strategical  operations  that  she  deigned  to  receive  his  atten- 
tions. Even  then  she  would  not  cotnmit  herself.  Prudence 
had  been  demanded  of  her  by  the  multitudinous  number  of 
her  admirers — wholesale  wine  merchants,  well-to-do  bar- 
keepers, and  others,  who  made  eyes  at  her.  The  lover  found 
a  supporter  in  her  guardian,  M.  Claude- Joseph  Pillerault,  an 
iron-monger  on  the  Quai  de  la  Ferraille,  a  discovery  made  by 
the  secret  espionage  which  is  pre-eminently  a  lover's  shift. 

In  this  rapid  sketch,  it  is  impossible  to  describe  the  delights 
of  this  harmless  Parisian  love-intrigue ;  the  little  extravagances 
characteristic  of  the  clerk — the  first  melons  of  the  season,  the 
little  dinners  at  V6nua's,  followed  by  the  theatre,  the  drives 
into  the  country  in  a  cab  on  Sunday — must  be  passed  over  in 
silence.  C6sar  was  not  a  positively  handsome  young  fellow, 
but  there  was  nothing  in  his  appearance  to  repel  love.  Life 
in  Paris  and  days  spent  in  a  dark  store  had  toned  down  the 
high  color  natural  to  the  peasant  lad.  His  thick,  black  hair, 
his  Norman  breadth  of  shoulder,  his  sturdy  limbs,  his  simple, 
straightforward  look,  all  contributed  to  prepossess  people  in 
his  favor.  Uncle  Pillerault,  the  responsible  guardian  of  his 
brother's  child,  made  various  inquiries  about  the  Tourangeau, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  31 

and  gave  his  consent;  and,  in  the  fair  month  of  May,  1800, 
Mile.  Pillerault  promised  to  marry  Cesar  Birotteau.  He 
nearly  fainted  with  joy  when  Constance-Barbe-Josephine 
accepted  him  as  her  husband  under  a  lime  tree  at  Sceaux. 

"You  will  have  a  good  husband,  my  little  girl,"  said  M. 
Pillerault.  "  He  has  a  warm  heart  and  sentiments  of  honor. 
He  is  as  straight  as  a  line,  and  as  good  as  the  Child  Jesus ; 
he  is  a  king  of  men,  in  short." 

Constance  put  away  once  and  for  all  the  dreams  of  a 
brilliant  future,  which,  like  most  store-girls,  she  had  some- 
times indulged.  She  meant  to  be  a  faithful  wife  and  a  good 
mother,  and  took  up  this  life  in  accordance  with  the  religious 
programme  of  the  middle  classes.  After  all,  this  part  suited 
her  ideas  much  better  than  the  dangerous  vanities  tempting 
to  a  youthful  Parisian  imagination.  Constance's  intelligence 
was  a  narrow  one ;  she  was  the  typical  small  tradesman's  wife, 
who  always  grumbles  a  little  over  her  work,  who  refuses  a 
thing  at  the  outset,  and  is  vexed  when  she  is  taken  at  her 
word ;  whose  restless  activity  takes  all  things,  from  cash-box 
to  kitchen,  as  its  province,  and  supervises  everything,  from 
the  weightiest  business  transactions  down  to  almost  invisible 
darns  in  the  household  linen.  Such  a  woman  scolds  while 
she  loves,  and  can  only  conceive  ideas  of  the  very  simplest ; 
only  the  small  change,  as  it  were,  of  thought  passes  current 
with  her ;  she  argues  about  everything,  lives  in  chronic  fear 
of  the  unknown,  makes  constant  forecasts,  and  is  always 
thinking  of  the  future.  Her  statuesque  yet  girlish  beauty, 
her  engaging  looks,  her  freshness,  prevented  Cesar  from  think- 
ing of  her  shortcomings ;  and,  moreover,  she  made  up  for 
them  by  a  woman's  sensitive  conscientiousness,  an  excessive 
thrift,  by  her  fanatical  love  of  work,  and  genius  as  a  sales- 
woman. 

Constance  was  just  eighteen  years  old,  and  the  possessor  of 
eleven  thousand  francs.  C6sar,  in  whom  love  had  developed 
the  most  unbounded  ambition,  bought  the  perfumery  business, 


32  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

and  transplanted  the  Queen  of  Roses  to  a  handsome  store 
near  the  Place  Vendome.  He  was  only  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
married  to  a  beautiful  and  adored  wife,  and  almost  the  owner 
of  his  establishment,  for  he  had  paid  three-fourths  of  the 
amount.  He  saw  (how  should  he  have  seen  otherwise  ?)  the 
future  in  fair  colors,  which  seemed  fairer  still  as  he  measured 
his  career  from  its  starting-point. 

Roguin  (Ragon's  notary)  drew  up  the  marriage-contract,  and 
gave  sage  counsels  to  the  young  perfumer ;  he  it  was  who  in- 
terfered when  the  latter  was  about  to  complete  the  purchase 
of  the  business  with  his  wife's  money.  "  Just  keep  the  money 
by  you,  my  boy  ;  ready  money  is  sometimes  a  handy  thing  in 
a  business,"  he  had  said. 

Birotteau  gazed  at  the  notary  in  admiration,  fell  into  the 
habit  of  consulting  him,  and  made  a  friend  of  Roguin.  Like 
Ragon  and  Pillerault,  he  had  so  much  faith  in  notaries  as  a 
class  that  he  placed  himself  in  Roguin's  hands  without  admit- 
ting a  doubt  of  him.  Thanks  to  this  advice,  Cesar  started 
business  with  the  eleven  thousand  francs  brought  him  by  Con- 
stance; and  would  not  have  "changed  places"  with  the 
First  Consul,  however  brilliant  Napoleon's  lot  might  seem 
to  be. 

At  first  the  Birotteau  establishment  had  but  one  servant- 
maid.  They  lodged  on  the  mezzanine  floor  above  the  store. 
In  this  sort  of  den,  passably  furnished  by  an  upholsterer,  the 
newly  wedded  pair  entered  upon  a  perennial  honeymoon. 
Mme.  Cesar  at  her  cash  desk  was  a  marvel  to  see.  Her 
famous  beauty  exercised  an  enormous  influence  on  the  sales ; 
the  dandies  of  the  Empire  talked  of  nothing  but  the  lovely 
Mme.  Birotteau.  If  Cesar's  political  principles  were  tainted 
with  royalism,  it  was  acknowledged  that  his  business  princi- 
ples were  above  suspicion ;  and  if  some  of  his  fellow-tradesmen 
envied  him  his  luck,  he  was  believed  to  deserve  it.  That 
shot  on  the  steps  of  the  church  of  Saint-Roch  had  gained  him 
a  certain  reputation — he  was  looked  upon  as  a  brave  man,  and 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  33 

a  man  deep  in  political  secrets ;  though  he  had  nothing  of  a 
soldier's  courage  in  his  composition,  and  not  even  a  rudi- 
mentary political  notion  in  his  head. 

On  these  data  the  good  folk  of  the  arrondissement  made 
him  a  captain  of  the  National  Guard,  but  he  was  cashiered  by 
Napoleon  (according  to  Birotteau,  that  matter  of  Vend£miaire 
still  rankled  in  the  First  Consul's  mind),  and  thenceforward 
Cesar  was  invested  with  a  certain  halo  of  martyrdom,  cheaply 
acquired,  which  made  him  interesting  to  opponents  and  gave 
him  a  certain  importance. 

Here,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  this  household,  so  happy  in 
itself,  and  disturbed  by  none  but  the  ever-recurring  business 
cares. 

During  the  first  year,  Cesar  instructed  his  wife  in  all  the 
ins  and  outs  of  the  perfumery  business,  which  she  was  ad- 
mirably quick  to  grasp ;  she  might  have  been  brought  into  the 
world  for  that  sole  purpose,  so  well  did  she  adapt  herself  to 
her  customers.  The  result  of  the  stocktaking  at  the  end  of 
the  year  alarmed  the  ambitious  perfumer.  After  deducting  all 
expenses,  he  might  perhaps  hope,  in  twenty  years'  time,  to 
make  the  modest  sum  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  the  price 
of  his  felicity.  He  determined  then  and  there  to  find  some 
speedier  road  to  fortune,  and,  by  way  of  a  beginning,  to  be  a 
manufacturer  as  well  as  a  retailer. 

Acting  against  his  wife's  counsel,  he  took  the  lease  of  a 
shed  on  some  building  land  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and 
painted  up  thereon,  in  huge  letters,  C£SAR  BIROTTEAU'S  FAC- 
TORY. He  enticed  a  workman  from  Grasse,  and  with  him 
began  to  manufacture  several  kinds  of  soap,  essences,  and 
eau-de-cologne,  on  the  system  of  half-profits.  The  partnership 
only  lasted  six  months  and  ended  in  a  loss,  which  he  had  to 
sustain  alone  ;  but  Birotteau  did  not  lose  heart.  He  meant  to 
obtain  a  result  at  any  price,  if  it  were  only  to  escape  a  scold- 
ing from  his  wife;  and,  indeed,  he  confessed  to  her  afterward 
that,  in  those  days  of  despair,  his  head  used  to  boil  like  a  pot 
3 


34  CESAR  BIROTTEAff. 

on  the  fire,  and  that  many  a  time,  but  for  his  religious  princi- 
ples, he  would  have  thrown  himself  into  the  Seine. 

One  day,  depressed  by  several  unsuccessful  experiments, 
he  was  sauntering  home  to  dinner  along  the  boulevards  (the 
lounger  in  Paris  is  a  man  in  despair  quite  as  often  as  a  genuine 
idler),  when  a  book  among  a  basketful  at  six  sous  a  piece 
caught  his  attention ;  his  eyes  were  attracted  by  the  yellow, 
dusty  title-page.  It  ran,  "Abdeker,  or  the  Art  of  Preserving 
Beauty." 

Birotteau  took  up  the  work.  It  claimed  to  be  a  transla- 
tion from  the  Arabic,  but  in  reality  it  was  a  sort  of  romance 
written  by  a  physician  in  the  previous  century.  Cesar  hap- 
pened to  stumble  upon  a  passage  therein  which  treated  of  per- 
fumes, and,  with  his  back  against  a  tree  in  the  boulevard,  he 
turned  the  pages  over  till  he  reached  a  footnote,  wherein  the 
learned  author  discoursed  of  the  nature  of  the  dermis  and 
epidermis.  The  writer  showed  conclusively  that  such  and 
such  an  unguent  or  soap  often  produced  an  effect  exactly  op- 
posite to  that  intended,  and  the  ointment,  or  the  soap,  acted 
as  a  tonic  upon  a  skin  that  required  a  lenitive  treatment,  or 
vice  vers&. 

Birotteau  saw  a  fortune  in  the  book,  and  bought  it.  Yet, 
feeling  little  confidence  in  his  unaided  lights,  he  went  to  Vau- 
quelin,  the  celebrated  chemist,  and  in  all  simplicity  asked 
him  how  to  compose  a  double  cosmetic  which  should  produce 
the  required  effect  upon  the  human  epidermis  in  either  case. 
The  really  learned — men  so  truly  great  in  this  sense  that  they 
can  never  receive  in  their  lifetime  all  the  fame  that  should 
reward  vast  labors  like  theirs — are  almost  always  helpful  and 
kindly  to  the  poor  in  intellect.  So  it  was  with  Vauquelin. 
He  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  perfumer,  gave  him  a  formula 
for  a  paste  to  whiten  the  hands,  and  allowed  him  to  style  him- 
self its  inventor.  It  was  this  cosmetic  that  Birotteau  called 
the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sultanes.  The  more  thoroughly  to 
accomplish  his  purpose,  he  used  the  recipe  for  the  paste  for  a 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  35 

wash  for  the  complexion,  which  he  called  the  Carminative 
Toilet  Lotion. 

He  took  a  hint  from  the  Little  Sailor,  and  was  the  first 
among  perfumers  to  make  the  lavish  use  of  placards,  hand- 
bills, and  divers  kinds  of  advertisements,  which,  perhaps  not 
undeservedly,  are  called  quackery.  The  Pate  des  Sultanes 
and  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  were  introduced  to  the 
polite  world  and  to  commerce  by  gorgeous  placards,  with  the 
words  APPROVED  BY  THE  INSTITUTE  at  the  head.  The  effect 
of  this  formula,  employed  thus  for  the  first  time,  was  magical. 
Not  France  only,  but  the  face  of  Europe  was  covered  with 
flaming  proclamations,  yellow,  scarlet,  and  blue,  which  in- 
formed the  world  that  the  sovereign  lord  of  the  Queen  of 
Roses  manufactured,  kept  in  stock,  and  supplied  everything 
in  his  line  of  business  at  moderate  charges. 

At  a  time  when  the  east  was  the  one  topic  of  conversation, 
in  a  country  where  every  man  has  a  natural  turn  for  the  part 
of  a  sultan,  and  every  woman  is  no  less  minded  to  become  a 
sultana,  the  idea  of  giving  to  any  cosmetic  such  a  name  as  the 
Pate  des  Sultanes  might  have  occurred  to  any  ordinary  man, 
it  needed  no  cleverness  to  foresee  its  fascination  ;  but  the 
public  always  judges  by  results,  and  Birotteau's  reputation 
for  business  ability  but  grew  the  more  when  he  indited  a  pros- 
pectus, and  the  very  absurdity  of  its  language  contributed  to 
its  success.  In  France  we  only  laugh  at  men  and  things  who 
are  talked  about,  and  those  who  fail  to  make  any  mark  are  not 
talked  about.  So  although  Birotteau's  stupidity  was  real  and 
not  feigned,  people  gave  him  credit  for  playing  the  fool  on 
purpose. 

A  copy  of  the  prospectus  has  been  procured,  not  without 
difficulty,  by  the  house  of  Popinot  &  Co.,  druggists  in  the 
Rue  des  Lombards.  In  a  more  elevated  connection  this 
curious  piece  of  rhetoric  would  be  styled  an  historical  docu- 
ment, and  valued  for  the  light  that  it  sheds  on  contemporary 
manners.  Here,  therefore,  it  is  given  : 


36  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

CESAR    BIROTTEAU'S 

SUPERFINE  PATE  DES  SULTANES 

AND 

CARMINATIVE  TOILET  LOTION. 

A   MARVELOUS    DISCOVERY  ! 

Approved  by  the  Institute. 

"  For  some  time  past  a  preparation  for  the  hands  and  a  toilet  lotion 
more  efficacious  than  Eau-de-Cologne  have  been  generally  desired  by 
both  sexes  throughout  Europe.  After  devoting  long  nights  to  the  study 
of  the  dermis  and  epidermis  of  both  sexes — for  both  attach,  and  with 
reason,  the  greatest  importance  to  the  softness,  suppleness,  bloom,  and 
delicate  surface  of  the  skin — M.  Birotteau,  a  perfumer  of  high  standing 
and  well  known  in  the  capital  and  abroad,  has  invented  two  preparations, 
which  from  their  first  appearance  have  been  deservedly  called  '  marvel- 
ous '  by  people  of  the  highest  fashion  in  Paris.  Both  preparations  possess 
astonishing  properties,  and  act  upon  the  skin  without  bringing  about  pre- 
mature wrinkles,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  rash  use  of  the  drugs  hitherto 
compounded  by  ignorance  and  cupidity. 

"  These  inventions  are  based  upon  the  difference  of  temperaments, 
which  are  divided  into  two  great  classes,  are  indicated  by  the  difference 
of  color  in  the  pate  and  the  lotion ;  the  rose-colored  preparations  being 
intended  for  the  dermis  and  epidermis  of  persons  of  lymphatic  constitu- 
tion, and  the  white  for  those  endowed  with  a  sanguine  temperament. 

"  The  pate  is  called  the  PATE  DES  SULTANES,  because  the  specific  was 
in  the  first  instance  invented  for  the  Seraglio  by  an  Arab  physician.  It 
has  been  approved  by  the  Institute  on  the  report  of  our  illustrious  chemist 
Vauquelin,  and  the  lotion,  likewise  approved,  is  compounded  upon  the 
same  principles. 

"  The  Pate  des  Sultanes,  an  invaluable  preparation,  which  exhales  the 
sweetest  fragrance,  dissipates  the  most  obstinate  freckles,  whitens  the  skin 
in  the  most  stubborn  cases,  and  represses  the  perspiration  of  the  hand 
from  which  women  suffer  no  less  than  men. 

"  THE   CARMINATIVE   TOILET    LOTION  removes  the  slight  pimples 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  87 

which  sometimes  appear  inopportunely  on  ladies'  faces  and  contravene 
their  projects  for  the  ball ;  it  refreshes  and  revives  the  color  by  opening 
or  closing  the  pores  of  the  skin  in  accordance  with  the  exigencies  of  the 
temperament,  while  its  efficacy  in  arresting  the  ravages  of  time  is  so  well 
known  already  that  many  ladies,  out  of  gratitude,  call  it  the  FRIEND  OF 
BEAUTY. 

"  Eau-de-Cologne  is  purely  and  simply  an  ordinary  perfume  without 
special  efficacy,  while  the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Carmina- 
tive Toilet  Lotion  are  two  active  remedies,  powerful  agents,  perfectly 
harmless  in  their  operation  of  seconding  the  efforts  of  nature ;  their  per- 
fumes, essentially  balsamic  and  exhilarating,  admirably  refresh  the  animal 
spirits,  and  charm  and  revive  ideas.  Their  merits  are  as  marvelous  as 
their  simplicity;  in  short,  to  woman  they  offer  an  added  charm,  while  a 
means  of  attraction  is  put  within  the  reach  of  man. 

"  The  daily  use  of  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion  allays  the  smarting 
sensation  caused  by  shaving,  while  it  keeps  the  lips  red  and  smooth,  and 
prevents  chapping;  it  gradually  dissipates  freckles  by  natural  means; 
and,  finally,  it  restores  tone  to  the  complexion.  These  results  are  the  signs 
of  that  perfect  equilibrium  of  the  humors  of  the  body,  which  insures 
immunity  from  the  migraine  to  those  who  are  subject  to  that  distressing 
complaint.  In  short,  the  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  which  may  be  used 
in  all  the  operations  of  the  toilet,  is  a  preventive  of  cutaneous  affections, 
by  permitting  free  transpiration  through  the  tissues,  while  imparting  a  per- 
manent bloom  to  the  skin. 

"  All  communications  should  be  prepaid  and  addressed  to  M.  C6sar 
Birotteau  (late  Ragon),  Perfumer  to  her  late  majesty  Queen  Marie- Antoin- 
ette, at  the  Queen  of  Roses,  Rue  Saint-Honor6,  near  the  Place  Venddme, 
Paris. 

"  The  price  of  the  P&te  is  three  livres  per  tablet,  and  of  the  Toilet  lotion, 

six  livres  per  bottle. 

"  To  prevent  fraudulent  imitations,  M.  Birotteau  warns  the  public  that 
the  wrapper  of  every  tablet  bears  his  signature,  and  that  his  name  is 
stamped  on  every  bottle  of  the  Toilet  Lotion." 

The  success  of  this  scheme  was  due,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
(though  C£sar  did  not  suspect  it),  to  Constance,  who  pro- 
posed that  they  should  send  sample  cases  of  the  Carminative 
Toilet  Lotion  and  the  Superfine  Pate  des  Sultanes  to  every 


38  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

perfumer  in  France  or  abroad,  offering,  at  the  same  time,  a 
discount  of  thirty  per  cent,  as  an  inducement  to  take  a  gross 
of  either  article  at  a  time? 

The  P&te  and  the  Lotion  were  really  better  than  similar 
cosmetics,  and  the  simple  were  attracted  by  that  distinction 
made  between  the  two  temperaments.  The  discount  was 
tempting  to  hundreds  of  perfumers  all  over  France,  and  each 
would  take  annually  three  hundred  gross  or  more  of  both 
preparations ;  and,  if  the  profits  on  each  article  were  small, 
the  demand  was  great  and  the  output  enormous.  Cesar  was 
able  to  buy  the  sheds  and  the  plot  of  land  in  the  Faubourg  du 
Temple.  He  built  a  large  factory  there,  and  had  the  Queen 
of  Roses  magnificently  decorated.  The  household  began  to 
feel  the  small  comforts  of  an  easier  existence,  and  the  wife 
quaked  less  than  heretofore. 

In  1810  Mme.  C6sar  predicted  a  rise  in  house  rents.  At 
her  instance  her  husband  took  the  lease  of  the  whole  house 
above  the  store,  and  they  removed  from  the  mezzanine  floor 
(where  they  had  begun  housekeeping  together)  to  the  second 
floor.  A  piece  of  luck  which  befell  them  about  that  time 
decided  Constance  to  shut  her  eyes  to  Birotteau's  follies  in 
the  matter  of  decorating  a  room  for  her.  The  perfumer  was 
made  a  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce.  It  was  his  char- 
acter for  integrity  and  conscientiousness,  together  with  the 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  that  gained  this  dignity  for 
him ;  thenceforward  he  must  be  considered  as  a  notable  among 
the  tradesmen  of  Paris. 

He  used  to  rise  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  read 
handbooks  on  jurisprudence  and  works  which  treated  of 
commercial  law.  With  his  instinct  for  fair  dealing,  his  up- 
rightness, his  readiness  to  take  trouble — all  qualities  essential 
for  the  appreciation  of  the  knotty  points  submitted  to  arbitra- 
tion— he  was  one  of  the  most  highly  esteemed  judges  in  the 
Tribunal.  His  faults  contributed  no  less  to  his  reputation. 
Cesar  was  so  conscious  of  his  inferiority  that  he  was  ready 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  39 

and  willing  to  take  his  colleagues'  opinion,  and  they  were 
flattered  by  the  attention  with  which  he  listened  to  them. 
Some  of  them  thought  a  good  deal  of  the  silent  approbation 
of  such  a  listener,  reputed  to  be  a  hard-headed  man  ;  others 
were  delighted  with  his  amiability  and  modesty,  and  extolled 
him  on  those  grounds.  Those  amenable  to  his  jurisdiction 
lauded  his  benevolence  and  conciliatory  spirit,  and  he  was 
often  called  in  to  act  as  arbitrator  in  disputes  wherein  his 
homely  sense  suggested  to  him  a  kind  of  Cadi's  justice. 

He  managed  to  invent  and  use  throughout  his  term  of  office 
a  style  of  his  own  ;  it  was  stuffed  with  platitudes,  interspersed 
with  trite  sayings,  and  pieces  of  reasoning  rounded  into 
phrases  which  came  out  without  effort,  and  sounded  like 
eloquence  in  the  ears  of  shallow  people.  In  this  way  he  com- 
mended himself  to  the  naturally  mediocre  majority,  con- 
demned to  penal  servitude  for  life  and  to  views  of  the  earth 
earthy. 

Cesar  lost  so  much  time  at  the  Tribunal  that  his  wife  put 
pressure  upon  him,  and  thenceforward  he  declined  the  costly 
honor. 

In  the  year  1813  this  household,  thanks  to  its  constant 
unity,  after  plodding  along  through  life  in  a  humdrum  fashion, 
entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity  which  nothing  seemingly 
ought  to  check. 

M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  (their  predecessors),  Uncle  Pillerault, 
Roguin  the  notary,  the  Matifats  (druggists  in  the  Rue  des 
Lombards  who  supplied  the  Queen  of  Roses),  Joseph  Lebas 
(a  retail  draper,  a  leading  light  in  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  suc- 
cessor to  Guillaume  at  the  Cat  and  Racket),  Judge  Popinot 
(Mme.  Ragon's  brother),  Chiffreville  (of  the  firm  of  Protez 
&  Chiffreville),  M.  Cochin  (a  clerk  of  the  Treasury,  and  a 
sleeping  partner  in  Matifat's  business),  his  wife,  Mme.  Cochin, 
and  the  Abbe  Loraux  (confessor  and  director  of  the  devout 
among  this  little  circle)  made  up,  with  one  or  two  others,  the 
number  of  their  acquaintance.  C6sar  Birotteau  might  be  a 


40  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Royalist,  but  public  opinion  at  that  time  was  in  his  favor ; 
and,  though  he  had  scarcely  a  hundred  thousand  francs  beside 
his  business,  was  looked  upon  as  a  very  wealthy  man.  His 
steady-going  ways,  his  punctuality,  his  habit  of  paying  ready 
money  for  everything,  of  never  discounting  bills,  while  he 
would  take  paper  to  oblige  a  customer  of  whom  he  was  sure — 
all  these  things,  together  with  his  readiness  to  oblige,  had 
brought  him  a  great  reputation.  And  not  only  so ;  he  had 
really  made  a  good  deal  of  money,  but  the  building  of  his 
factories  had  absorbed  most  of  it,  and  he  paid  nearly  twenty 
thousand  francs  a  year  in  rent.  The  education  of  their  only 
daughter,  whom  Constance  and  Cesar  both  idolized,  had  been 
a  heavy  expense.  Neither  the  husband  nor  the  wife  thought 
of  money  where  Cesarine's  pleasure  was  concerned,  and  they 
had  never  brought  themselves  to  part  with  her. 

Imagine  the  delight  of  the  poor  peasant-parvenu  when  he 
heard  his  charming  Cesarine  play  a  sonata  by  Steibelt  or  sing 
a  ballad  ;  when  he  saw  her  writing  French  correctly,  or  mak- 
ing sepia  drawings  of  landscape,  or  listened  while  she  read 
aloud  from  the  Racines,  father  and  son,  and  explained  the 
beauties  of  the  poetry.  What  happiness  it  was  for  him  to  live 
again  in  this  fair,  innocent  flower,  not  yet  plucked  from  the 
parent  stem  ;  this  angel,  over  whose  growing  graces  and  ear- 
liest development  they  had  watched  with  such  passionate  ten- 
derness ;  this  only  child,  incapable  of  despising  her  father  or 
of  laughing  at  his  want  of  education,  so  much  was  she  his 
little  daughter. 

When  Cesar  came  to  Paris  he  had  known  how  to  read, 
write,  and  cipher,  and  at  that  point  his  education  had  been 
arrested.  There  had  been  no  opportunity  in  his  hard-working 
life  of  acquiring  new  ideas  and  information  beyond  the  per- 
fumery trade.  He  had  spent  his  time  among  folk  to  whom 
science  and  literature  were  matters  of  indifference,  and  whose 
knowledge  was  of  a  limited  and  special  kind  ;  he  himself, 
having  no  time  to  spare  for  loftier  studies,  became  perforce  a 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  41 

practical  man.  He  adopted  (how  should  he  have  done  other- 
wise ?)  the  language,  errors,  and  opinions  of  the  Parisian 
tradesman  who  admires  Moliere,  Voltaire,  and  Rousseau  on 
hearsay,  and  buys  their  works,  but  never  opens  them  ;  who 
will  have  it  that  the  proper  way  to  pronounce  armoire  is 
ormoire :  or  means  gold  and  moire  means  silk,  and  women's 
dresses  used  almost  always  to  be  made  of  silk,  and  in  their 
cupboards  they  locked  up  silk  and  gold — therefore,  ormoire  is 
right  and  armoire  (closet)  is  an  innovation.  Talma,  Mile. 
Mars,  and  other  actors  and  actresses  were  millionaires  ten 
times  over,  and  did  not  live  like  ordinary  mortals  :  the  great 
tragedian  lived  on  raw  meat,  and  Mile.  Mars  would  have  a 
fricassee  of  pearls  now  and  then — an  idea  she  had  taken  from 
some  celebrated  Egyptian  actress.  As  to  the  Emperor,  his 
vest  pockets  were  lined  with  leather,  so  that  he  could  take  a 
handful  of  snuff  at  a  time ;  he  used  to  ride  at  full  gallop  up 
the  staircase  of  the  orangery  at  Versailles.  Authors  and  artists 
ended  in  the  workhouse,  the  natural  close  to  their  eccentric 
careers  ;  they  were,  every  one  of  them,  atheists  into  the  bar- 
gain, so  that  you  had  to  be  very  careful  not  to  admit  anybody 
of  that  sort  into  your  house.  Joseph  Lebas  used  to  advert 
with  horror  to  the  story  of  his  sister-in-law  Augustine  who 
married  the  artist  Sommervieux.  Astronomers  lived  on  spiders. 
These  bright  examples  of  the  attitude  of  the  bourgeois  mind 
toward  philology,  the  drama,  politics,  and  science  will  throw 
light  upon  its  breadth  of  view  and  powers  of  comprehension. 

Let  a  poet  pass  along  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  and  some 
stray  sweet  scent  shall  set  him  dreaming  of  the  east ;  for  him, 
with  the  odor  of  the  Khuskus  grass,  would  come  a  vision  of 
Nautch  girls  in  an  eastern  bath.  The  brilliant  red  lac  would 
call  up  thoughts  of  Vedic  hymns,  of  alien  creeds  and  castes ; 
and  at  a  chance  contact  with  an  ivory  tusk,  he  would  mount 
an  elephant  and  make  love,  like  the  king  of  Lahore,  in  a 
muslin-curtained  howdah. 

But  the  petty  tradesman  does  not  so  much  as  know  whence 


42  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

the  raw  materials  of  his  business  are  brought.  Of  natural 
history  or  of  chemistry,  Birotteau  the  perfumer,  for  instance, 
knew  nothing  whatever.  It  is  true  that  he  regarded  Vauquelin 
as  a  great  man,  but  Vauquelin  was  an  exception.  Cesar  him- 
self was  about  on  a  par  with  the  retired  grocer,  who  summed 
up  a  discussion  on  the  ways  of  growing  tea  by  announcing 
with  a  knowing  air  that  "  there  are  only  two  ways  of  obtain- 
ing tea — from  Havre  or  by  the  overland  route."  And  Bi- 
rotteau thought  that  aloes  and  opium  were  only  to  be  found  in 
the  Rue  des  Lombards.  People  told  you  that  attar  of  roses 
came  from  Constantinople,  but,  like  Eau-de-Cologne,  it  was 
made  in  Paris.  These  names  of  foreign  places  were  humbug ; 
they  had  been  invented  to  amuse  the  French  nation,  who 
cannot  abide  anything  that  is  made  in  France.  A  French 
merchant  has  to  call  his  discovery  an  English  invention,  or 
people  will  not  buy  it ;  it  is  just  the  same  in  England,  the 
druggists  there  tell  you  that  things  come  from  France. 

Yet  Cesar  was  not  altogether  a  fool  or  a  dunce ;  an  honest 
and  kind  heart  shed  a  lustre  over  everything  that  he  did  and 
made  his  a  worthy  life,  and  a  kindly  deed  absolves  all  possible 
forms  of  ignorance.  His  unvarying  success  gave  him  assur- 
ance ;  and,  in  Paris,  assurance,  the  sign  of  power,  is  taken 
for  power  itself. 

Cesar's  wife,  who  had  learned  to  know  her  husband's  char- 
acter during  the  early  years  of  their  marriage,  led  a  life  of 
perpetual  terror;  she  represented  sound  sense  and  foresight 
in  the  partnership;  she  was  doubt,  opposition,  and  fear; 
while  Cesar  represented  boldness,  ambition,  activity,  the 
element  of  chance  and  undreamed-of  good-luck.  In  spite  of 
appearances,  the  merchant  was  the  weaker  vessel,  and  it  was 
the  wife  who  really  had  the  patience  and  courage.  So  it  had 
come  to  pass  trJfet  a  timid  mediocrity,  without  education, 
knowledge,  or  strength  of  character,  a  being  who  could  in  no- 
wise have  succeeded  in  the  world's  slipperiest  places,  was  taken 
for  a  remarkable  man,  a  man  of  spirit  and  resolution,  thanks 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  48 

to  his  instinctive  uprightness  and  sense  of  justice,  to  the  good- 
ness of  a  truly  Christian  soul,  and  love  for  the  one  woman 
who  had  been  his. 

The  public  only  sees  results.  Of  all  Cesar's  circle,  only 
Pillerault  and  Judge  Popinot  saw  beneath  the  surface;  none 
of  the  rest  could  pronounce  on  his  character.  Those  twenty 
or  thirty  friends,  moreover,  who  met  at  one  another's  houses, 
retailed  the  same  platitudes,  repeated  the  same  stale  common- 
places, and  each  one  among  them  regarded  himself  as  superior 
to  his  company.  There  was  a  rivalry  among  the  women  in 
dinners  and  dress  ;  each  one  summed  up  her  husband  in  some 
contemptuous  word. 

Mme.  Birotteau  alone  had  the  good  sense  to  show  respect 
and  deference  to  her  husband  in  public.  She  saw  in  him  the 
man  who,  in  spite  of  his  private  weaknesses,  had  made  the 
wealth  and  earned  the  esteem  which  she  shared  along  with  him  ; 
though  she  sometimes  privately  wondered  if  all  men  who 
were  spoken  of  as  superior  intellects  were  like  her  husband. 
This  attitude  of  hers  contributed  not  a  little  to  maintain  the 
respect  and  esteem  shown  by  others  to  the  merchant,  in  a 
country  where  wives  are  quick-witted  enough  to  belittle  their 
husbands  and  to  complain  of  them. 

The  first  days  of  the  year  1814,  so  fatal  to  Imperial  France, 
were  memorable  in  the  Birotteau  household  for  two  events, 
which  would  have  passed  almost  unnoticed  anywhere  else; 
but  they  were  of  a  kind  to  leave  a  deep  impression  on  simple 
souls  like  Cesar  and  his  wife,  who,  looking  back  upon  their 
past,  found  no  painful  memories. 

They  had  engaged  a  young  man  of  two-and-twenty,  Fer- 
dinand du  Tillet  by  name,  as  first  assistant.  The  lad  had 
come  to  them  from  another  house  in  the  perfumery  trade, 
where  they  had  declined  to  give  him  a  percentage  on  the 
profits.  He  was  thought  to  be  a  genius,  and  he  had  been  very 
anxious  to  go  to  the  Queen  of  Roses,  knowing  the  place,  and 
the  people,  and  their  ways.  Birotteau  had  engaged  him  at  a 


44  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

salary  of  a  thousand  francs,  meaning  that  du  Tillet  should  be 
his  successor.  This  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  was  destined  to  ex- 
ercise so  great  an  influence  over  the  family  fortunes  that  a  few 
words  must  be  said  about  him. 

He  had  begun  life  simply  on  his  Christian  name  of  Ferdi- 
nand. There  was  an  immense  advantage  in  anonymity,  he 
thought,  at  a  time  when  Napoleon  was  pressing  the  young  men 
of  every  family  into  the  army;  but  if  he  had  no  name,  he  had 
been  born  somewhere,  and  owed  his  birth  to  some  cruel  or 
voluptuous  fancy.  Here,  in  brief,  are  the  few  facts  known  as 
to  his  name  and  designation. 

In  1793  a  poor  girl  of  Tillet,  a  little  hamlet  near  the  An- 
delys,  bore  a  child  one  night  in  the  cure's  garden  at  Tillet, 
tapped  on  the  shutters,  and  then  drowned  herself.  The  good 
man  received  the  child,  named  him  after  the  saint  of  that  day 
in  the  calendar,  and  reared  him  as  if  he  had  been  his  own  son. 
In  1804  the  cure  died,  and  the  little  property  that  he  left  was 
insufficient  to  complete  the  education  thus  begun.  Ferdinand, 
thrown  upon  Paris,  there  led  the  life  of  a  freebooter,  amid 
chances  that  might  bring  him  to  the  scaffold  or  to  fortune,  to 
the  bar,  the  army,  commerce,  or  private  life.  Ferdinand, 
compelled  to  live  like  a  very  Figaro,  first  became  a  commer- 
cial traveler,  then,  after  traveling  round  France  and  seeing 
life,  became  a  perfumer's  assistant,  with  a  fixed  determination 
to  make  his  way  at  all  costs.  In  1813  he  considered  it  ex- 
pedient to  ascertain  his  age  and  to  acquire  a  status  as  a  citizen ; 
he,  therefore,  petitioned  the  Tribunal  of  the  Andelys  to 
transfer  the  entry  of  his  baptism  from  the  church  records  to 
the  mayor's  register;  and,  further,  he  asked  that  they  should 
insert  the  surname  of  du  Tillet,  which  he  had  assumed,  on 
the  ground  of  his  exposure  at  birth  in  the  commune  of  that 
name. 

He  had  neither  father  nor  mother;  he  had  no  guardian  save 
the  procureur-imperial ;  he  was  alone  in  the  world,  and  owed 
no  account  of  himself  to  any  one  ;  society  was  to  him  a  harsh 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  45 

stepdame,  and  he  showed  no  mercy  in  his  dealings  with  so- 
ciety, knew  no  guide  but  his  own  interests,  found  all  means 
of  success  permissible.  The  Norman,  armed  with  these  dan- 
gerous capacities,  combined  with  his  desire  to  succeed  the 
crabbed  faults  for  which  the  natives  of  his  province  are,  rightly 
or  wrongly,  blamed.  Beneath  his  insinuating  manner  there 
was  a  contentious  spirit ;  he  was  a  most  formidable  antagonist 
— a  blustering  litigant,  disputing  another's  least  rights  auda- 
ciously, while  he  never  yielded  a  point  himself.  He  had  time 
on  his  side,  and  wearied  out  his  opponents  by  his  inflexible 
pertinacity.  His  principal  merits  were  those  of  the  Scapins 
of  old  comedy ;  he  possessed  their  fertility  of  resource,  their 
skill  in  sailing  near  the  wind,  their  itch  to  seize  on  what  seems 
good  to  have  and  hold.  Indeed,  he  meant  to  apply  to  his 
poverty  a  motto  which  the  Abbe  Terray  applied  in  statecraft ; 
he  would  make  a  clean  record  by  turning  honest  at  some 
time  later  on. 

He  was  endowed  with  strenuous  energy,  with  the  military 
intrepidity  which  demands  good  deeds  or  bad  indifferently  of 
everybody,  justifying  his  demand  by  the  theory  of  personal 
interest ;  he  was  bound  to  succeed  ;  he  had  too  great  a  scorn 
of  human  nature  ;  he  believed  too  firmly  that  all  men  have 
their  price ;  he  was  too  little  troubled  by  scruples  as  to  the 
choice  of  means,  when  all  were  alike  permissible ;  his  eyes 
were  too  fixedly  set  upon  the  success  and  wealth  that  should 
purchase  absolution  for  a  system  of  morals  which  worked  thus 
not  to  be  successful. 

Such  a  man,  between  the  convict's  prison  on  the  one  hand 
and  millions  upon  the  other,  must  of  necessity  become  vindic- 
tive, domineering,  swift  in  his  decisions,  a  dissembling  Crom- 
well scheming  to  cut  off  the  head  of  probity.  A  light,  mock- 
ing wit  concealed  the  depth  of  his  character;  mere  clerk 
though  he  was,  his  ambition  knew  no  bounds  ;  he  had  com- 
prehended society  in  one  glance  of  hatred,  and  said  to  himself, 
"  You  are  in  my  power."  He  had  vowed  that  he  would  not 


46  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

marry  before  he  was  forty  years  old.  He  kept  his  word  with 
himself. 

As  to  Ferdinand's  outward  appearance,  he  was  a  slim,  well- 
shaped  young  fellow,  with  adaptable  manners  that  enabled 
him  at  need  .to  take  any  tone  through  the  whole  gamut  of 
society.  At  first  sight  his  weasel  face  was  not  displeasing ; 
but,  after  more  observation,  you  detected  the  strange  expres- 
sions which  are  visible  on  the  surface  of  those  who  are  not  at 
peace  with  themselves,  or  who  hear  at  times  the  warning 
voice  of  conscience.  His  hard,  high  color  glowed  under  the 
soft  Norman  skin.  There  was  a  furtive  look  in  the  wall-eyes, 
lined  with  silver  leaf,  which  grew  terrible  when  they  were 
fixed  full  on  his  victim.  His  voice  was  husky,  as  if  he  had 
been  speaking  for  long.  The  thin  lips  were  not  unpleasing, 
but  the  sharply-pointed  nose  and  slightly-rounded  forehead 
revealed  a  defect  of  race.  Indeed,  the  coloring  of  his  hair, 
which  looked  as  if  it  had  been  dyed  black,  indicated  the 
social  half-breed,  who  had  his  cleverness  from  a  dissolute 
great  lord,  his  low  ideas  from  the  peasant  girl,  the  victim  of 
seduction  ;  who  owed  his  knowledge  to  an  incomplete  educa- 
tion ;  whose  vices  were  those  of  the  waif  and  stray. 

Birotteau  learned,  to  his  unbounded  amazement,  that  his 
assistant  went  out  very  elegantly  arrayed,  came  in  very  late, 
and  went  to  balls  at  bankers'  and  notaries'  houses.  These 
habits  found  no  favor  with  Cesar.  To  his  way  of  thinking 
an  assistant  should  study  the  ledgers  and  think  of  nothing 
but  the  business.  The  perfumer  had  no  patience  with  folly. 
He  spoke  gently  to  du  Tillet  about  wearing  such  fine  linen, 
about  visiting  cards,  which  bore  the  name  F.  du  Tillet — 
manners  and  customs  which,  according  to  his  commercial 
jurisprudence,  should  be  confined  to  the  fashionable  world. 

But  Ferdinand  had  established  himself  in  this  house  to  play 
Tartuflfe  to  Birotteau's  Orgon  ;  he  paid  court  to  Mme.  Cesar, 
tried  to  seduce  her,  and,  gauging  his  employer  with  appalling 
quickness,  judged  him  as  his  wife  had  previously  judged.  Du 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU,  47 

Tillet  only  said  what  he  meant  to  say,  and  was  both  reserved 
and  discreet ;  but  he  unveiled  opinions  of  mankind  and  views 
of  life  in  a  fashion  that  dismayed  a  timorous,  conscientious 
woman,  who  thought  it  a  sin  to  do  the  slightest  wrong  to  her 
neighbor.  In  spite  of  the  tact  which  Mme.  Birotteau  em- 
ployed, du  Tillet  felt  her  contempt  for  him ;  and  Constance, 
to  whom  Ferdinand  had  written  several  amorous  epistles,  soon 
noticed  a  change  in  the  manners  of  her  assistant.  He  began 
to  behave  presumptuously,  to  give  others  the  impression  that 
there  was  an  understanding  between  them.  Without  inform- 
ing her  husband  of  her  private  reasons,  she  recommended  him 
to  dismiss  the  man,  and  Birotteau  was  of  his  wife's  opinion 
on  this  head.  Du  Tillet's  dismissal  was  resolved  upon ;  but 
one  evening,  on  the  Saturday  before  he  gave  notice,  Birotteau 
balanced  his  books,  as  he  was  wont  to  do  every  month,  and 
found  that  he  was  three  thousand  francs  short.  He  was  in 
terrible  consternation.  It  was  not  so  much  the  actual  loss 
that  affected  him  as  the  suspicion  that  hung  over  his  three 
assistants  and  the  servant,  the  errand  boy,  and  the  workmen. 
On  whom  was  he  to  lay  the  blame?  Mme.  Birotteau  was 
never  away  from  the  cash  desk.  The  book-keeper,  who 
lodged  in  the  house,  was  a  young  man  of  eighteen,  Popinot 
by  name,  a  nephew  of  M.  Ragon,  and  honesty  itself.  Indeed, 
on  Popinot's  own  showing  the  money  was  missing,  for  the 
cash  did  not  agree  with  the  balance.  Husband  and  wife 
agreed  to  say  nothing,  and  to  watch  every  one  in  the  house. 

Monday  came,  and  their  friends  came  to  spend  the  evening. 
Every  family  in  this  set  entertained  in  turn.  While  they 
played  at  cards,  Roguin  the  notary  put  down  on  the  table 
one  old  louis-d'or  which  Mme.  Cesar  had  taken  some  days 
before  of  a  bride,  Mme.  d'Espart. 

"  Have  you  been  robbing  the  poor-box?"  asked  the  per- 
fumer, laughing. 

Roguin  said  that  he  had  won  the  money  of  du  Tillet  at  a 
banker's  house  on  the  previous  evening,  and  du  Tillet  bore 


48  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

him  out  in  this  without  a  blush.  As  for  the  perfumer,  he 
turned  crimson.  When  the  visitors  had  gone,  and  Ferdinand 
was  about  to  go  to  bed,  Birotteau  called  him  down  into  the 
shop,  on  pretense  of  business  to  discuss. 

"  We  are  three  thousand  francs  short  in  the  cash,  du  Tillet," 
the  good  man  said,  "  and  I  cannot  suspect  anybody.  The 
matter  of  the  old  louis-d'or  seems  to  be  too  much  against  you 
to  be  passed  over  entirely,  so  we  will  not  go  to  bed  till  we 
have  found  out  the  mistake,  for,  after  all,  it  can  be  nothing 
but  a  mistake.  Very  likely  you  took  the  louis  on  account  of 
your  salary." 

Du  Tillet  owned  to  having  taken  the  louis.  The  perfumer 
thereupon  opened  the  ledger  ;  the  assistant's  account  had  not 
yet  been  debited  with  the  sum. 

"  I  was  in  a  hurry.  I  ought  to  have  asked  Popinot  to  enter 
it,"  said  Ferdinand. 

"  Quite  true,"  said  Birotteau,  disconcerted  by  this  off-hand 
coolness.  The  Norman  had  taken  the  measure  of  the  good 
folk  among  whom  he  had  come  with  a  view  to  making  his 
fortune. 

The  perfumer  and  his  assistant  spent  the  night  in  checking 
the  books,  the  worthy  merchant  knowing  all  the  while  that  it 
was  trouble  thrown  away.  As  he  came  and  went  he  slipped 
three  bank-notes  of  a  thousand  francs  each  into  the  safe, 
pressing  them  between  the  side  of  the  drawer  and  the  groove 
in  the  safe ;  then  he  pretended  to  be  tired  out,  seemed  to  be 
fast  asleep,  and  snored.  Du  Tillet  awakened  him  in  triumph, 
and  showed  exaggerated  delight  over  the  discovery  of  the 
mistake. 

The  next  morning  Birotteau  scolded  little  Popinot  and 
Mme.  Cesar  in  public,  and  waxed  wrathful  over  their  care- 
lessness. 

A  fortnight  later,  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  entered  a  stock- 
broker's office.  The  perfumery  trade  did  not  suit  him,  he 
said ;  he  wanted  to  study  banking.  At  the  same  time,  he 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  49 

spoke  of  Mme.  Cesar  in  a  way  that  gave  the  impression  that 
motives  of  jealousy  had  procured  his  dismissal. 

A  few  months  later  du  Tillet  came  to  see  his  late  employer, 
and  asked  him  to  be  his  surety  for  twenty  thousand  francs,  to 
complete  the  guarantees  required  in  a  matter  which  was  to 
put  him  in  the  way  of  making  his  fortune.  Seeing  Birotteau's 
surprise  at  this  piece  of  effrontery,  du  Tillet  scowled  and 
asked  the  perfumer  whether  he  had  no  confidence  in  him. 
Matifat  and  two  men  with  whom  Birotteau  did  business  were 
there  at  the  time ;  his  indignation  did  not  escape  them, 
though  he  controlled  his  anger  in  their  presence.  Perhaps 
du  Tillet  had  returned  to  honesty;  a  gambling  debt  or  some 
woman  in  distress  might  have  been  at  the  root  of  that  error 
of  his ;  and  the  fact  that  an  honest  man  publicly  declined 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  him  might  launch  a  man,  still 
young,  and  perhaps  penitent,  on  a  career  of  crime  and  mis- 
fortune. The  angel  of  mercy  took  up  the  pen  and  set  his 
signature  on  du  Tillet's  papers,  saying  as  he  did  so  that  he 
was  heartily  glad  to  do  a  small  service  for  a  lad  who  had 
been  very  useful  to  him.  The  color  came  into  the  good 
man's  face  as  he  told  that  kindly  lie.  Du  Tillet  could  not 
meet  his  eyes,  and  doubtless  at  that  moment  vowed  an  eternal 
enmity,  the  truceless  hate  that  the  angels  of  darkness  bear  the 
angels  of  light. 

Du  Tillet  kept  his  balance  so  skillfully  upon  the  tight-rope 
of  speculation  that  he  was  always  fashionably  dressed,  and 
was  apparently  rich  long  before  he  was  rich  in  reality.  When 
he  set  up  a  cabriolet  he  never  put  it  down  again  ;  he  held 
his  own  in  the  lofty  spheres  where  pleasure  and  business  are 
mingled,  among  the  Turcarets  of  the  epoch  for  whom  the 
crush-room  of  the  opera  is  a  branch  of  the  Stock  Exchange. 

Thanks  to  Mme.  Roguin,  whom  he  had  met  among  the 
Birotteaus'  circle,  he  became  rapidly  known  in  high  financial 
regions.  Ferdinand  du  Tillet  had  attained  a  prosperity  in 
nowise  delusive ;  he  was  on  an  excellent  footing  with  the  firm 


50  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

of  Nucingen,  to  whom  Roguin  had  introduced  him ;  and  he 
had  not  been  slow  to  secure  the  Keller  connection  and  to 
make  friends  among  the  upper  banking  world.  Nobody  knew 
where  the  young  fellow  found  the  vast  capital  which  he  could 
command,  but  they  set  down  his  luck  to  his  intelligence  and 
honesty. 

The  Restoration  made  a  personage  of  Cesar  Birotteau,  and, 
in  the  vortex  of  political  crises,  he  not  unnaturally  forgot 
these  two  cross-events  in  his  household.  The  tenacity  with 
which  he  had  held  to  his  opinions — for  though  since  his 
wound  it  had  been  a  strictly  passive  tenacity,  he  still  held  to 
his  principles  for  decency's  sake — had  brought  him  patronage 
in  high  quarters,  precisely  because  he  had  asked  for  nothing. 
He  received  an  appointment  as  major  in  the  National  Guard, 
though  he  did  not  so  much  as  know  a  single  word  of  com- 
mand. 

In  1815  Napoleon,  inimical  as  ever  to  Birotteau,  ejected 
him  from  his  post.  During  the  Hundred  Days,  Birotteau  be- 
came the  bete  noire  (wild  boar;  i.e.,  butt)  of  the  Liberals  in 
his  quarter ;  for  party  feeling  began  to  run  high  in  that  year 
among  the  commercial  class,  who  hitherto  had  been  unani- 
mous in  voting  for  peace  for  business  reasons. 

After  the  second  Restoration,  the  Royalist  government 
found  it  necessary  to  manipulate  the  municipal  body.  The 
prefect  wanted  to  transform  Birotteau  into  a  mayor,  but, 
thanks  to  his  wife,  the  perfumer  accepted  the  less  conspicuous 
position  of  deputy-mayor.  His  modesty  added  not  a  little 
to  his  reputation,  and  brought  him  the  friendship  of  the 
mayor,  M.  Flamet  de  la  Billardiere.  Birotteau,  who  had 
seen  him  in  the  Queen  of  Roses  in  the  days  when  Royalist 
plotters  used  to  meet  at  Ragon's  store,  suggested  his  name  to 
the  prefect  of  the  Seine,  who  consulted  the  perfumer  on  the 
choice.  M.  and  Mme.  Birotteau  were  never  forgotten  in 
the  mayor's  invitations,  and  Mme.  Birotteau  often  asked  for 
charitable  subscriptions  at  Saint-Roch  in  good  society. 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  61 

La  Billardiere  warmly  supported  Birotteau  when  it  was 
proposed  to  distribute  the  crosses  awarded  to  the  municipal 
body ;  when  names  were  being  weighed  he  laid  stress  upon 
Cesar's  wound  received  at  Saint-Roch,  on  his  attachment  to 
the  Bourbons,  and  on  the  respect  in  which  Birotteau  was 
held.  So  the  minister  who,  while  he  endeavored  to  undo  the 
work  of  Napoleon,  was  wishful  to  make  creatures  of  his  own, 
and,  to  secure  partisans  for  the  Bourbons  from  the  ranks  of 
commerce  and  among  men  of  art  and  science,  included  Bi- 
rotteau in  the  list  of  those  to  be  distinguished. 

This  favor,  together  with  the  glory  which  C6sar  already 
shed  around  him  in  his  arrondissement,  put  him  in  a  position 
that  was  bound  to  magnify  the  ideas  of  a  man  who  had  met 
hitherto  with  nothing  but  success  ;  and  when  the  mayor  told 
him  of  the  approaching  distinction,  it  was  the  final  argument 
which  urged  the  perfumer  into  the  speculation  which  he  had 
just  disclosed  to  his  wife;  for  it  opened  up  a  way  of  quitting 
the  perfumery  trade  and  of  rising  to  the  upper  ranks  of  the 
Parisian  bourgeoisie. 

Cesar  was  forty  years  old.  Hard  work  at  his  factory  had 
set  one  or  two  premature  wrinkles  in  his  face  and  slightly 
silvered  the  long,  bushy  hair,  on  which  the  constant  pressure 
of  his  hat  had  impressed  a  glossy  ring.  The  outlines  of  his 
hair  described  five  points  on  the  forehead,  which  told  a  story 
of  simplicity  of  life.  There  was  nothing  alarming  about  the 
bushy  eyebrows,  for  the  blue  eyes,  with  their  clear,  straight- 
forward expression,  were  in  keeping  with  the  honest  man's 
brow.  His  nose,  broken  at  his  birth  and  blunt  at  the  tip, 
gave  him  the  astonished  look  of  the  typical  Parisian  cockney. 
His  lips  were  very  thick,  his  chin  heavy  and  straight.  It  was 
a  high-colored  face  with  square  outlines,  and  a  peculiar  dispo- 
sition of  the  wrinkles — altogether  it  was  of  the  ingenuous, 
shrewd,  peasant  type;  and  his  evident  physical  strength,  his 
sturdy  limbs,  broad  shoulders,  and  big  feet,  all  denoted  the 
countryman  transported  to  Paris.  The  large  hands,  covered 


52  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

with  hair,  the  creases  in  the  plump  finger-joints,  and  broad, 
square-shaped  nails  at  the  tips,  would  alone  have  attested  his 
origin  if  there  had  not  been  signs  of  it  about  his  whole 
person. 

He  always  wore  the  bland  smile  with  which  a  storekeeper 
welcomes  a  customer;  but  this  smile,  assumed  for  business 
purposes  in  his  case,  was  the  outward  and  visible  expression 
of  inward  content  and  reflected  the  serenity  of  a  kindly  soul. 
His  distrust  of  his  species  was  strictly  confined  to  the  busi- 
ness; he  parted  company  with  his  shrewdness  as  he  came  away 
from  the  Exchange  or  shut  his  ledger.  Suspicion  for  him  was 
one  of  the  exigencies  of  business,  like  his  printed  bill-heads. 

There  was  a  comical  mixture  of  assurance,  fatuity,  and  good- 
nature in  his  face,  which  gave  it  a  certain  character  of  its  own, 
and  redeemed  it,  to  some  extent,  from  the  vapid  uniformity 
of  Parisian  bourgeois  countenances.  But  for  that  expression 
of  artless  wonder  and  trustfulness,  people  would  have  stood 
too  much  in  awe  of  him ;  it  was  thus  that  he  paid  his  quota 
of  absurdity  that  put  him  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  his 
kind. 

It  was  a  habit  of  his  to  cross  his  hands  behind  him  while 
speaking ;  and,  when  he  meant  to  say  something  particularly 
civil  or  striking,  he  gradually  raised  himself  on  tiptoe  once  or 
twice,  and  came  down  heavily  upon  his  heels,  as  if  to  em- 
phasize his  remark.  Sometimes  in  the  height  of  a  discussion 
he  would  suddenly  swing  himself  round,  take  a  step  or  two  as 
if  in  search  of  objections,  and  then  turn  abruptly  upon  his 
opponent.  He  never  interrupted  anybody,  and  not  seldom 
fell  a  victim  to  his  finer  punctilious  observance  of  good  man- 
ners, for  others  did  not  scruple  to  take  the  words  out  of  his 
mouth,  and  when  the  worthy  man  came  away  he  had  been 
unable  to  put  in  a  word. 

In  his  wide  experience  of  business  he  had  acquired  habits 
which  others  sometimes  described  as  a  mania.  For  instance, 
if  a  bill  had  not  been  met,  he  would  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  53 

process-server  and  gave  himself  no  further  trouble  about  it, 
save  to  receive  the  capital,  interest,  and  court  expenses.  The 
matter  might  drive  the  customer  into  bankruptcy,  and  then 
Cesar  went  no  further.  He  never  attended  a  meeting  of 
creditors ;  his  name  never  appeared  in  any  list ;  he  kept  his 
claims.  This  system,  together  with  an  implacable  contempt 
for  bankrupts,  had  been  handed  down  to  him  by  old  M. 
Ragon,  who,  after  a  long  commercial  experience,  had  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  meagre  and  uncertain  dividend 
paid  under  the  circumstances  was  a  very  poor  return  for  the 
time  wasted  in  law  proceedings,  and  held  that  he  could  spend 
his  time  to  better  purpose  than  in  running  about  after  excuses 
for  dishonesty. 

"  If  the  bankrupt  is  an  honest  man  and  makes  his  way  again, 
he  will  pay  you,"  M.  Ragon  was  wont  to  say.  "If  he  has 
nothing,  and  is  simply  unfortunate,  what  is  the  good  of  tor- 
menting him?  And  if  he  is  a  rogue,  you  will  get  nothing  in 
any  case.  If  you  have  a  name  for  being  hard  on  people,  they 
will  not  try  to  make  terms  with  you ;  and  so  long  as  they  can 
pay  at  all,  you  are  the  man  whom  they  will  pay." 

C6sar  kept  his  appointments  punctually ;  he  would  wait  for 
ten  minutes,  and  nothing  would  induce  him  to  stay  any 
longer,  a  characteristic  which  was  a  cause  of  punctuality  in 
others  who  had  to  do  with  him. 

His  dress  was  in  keeping  with  his  appearance  and  habits. 
No  power  on  earth  would  have  induced  him  to  resign  the  white 
lawn  neck-cloths  with  drooping  ends,  embroidered  by  his  wife 
or  daughter.  His  white  drill  vests,  adorned  with  a  double  row 
of  buttons,  descended  low  upon  his  prominent  abdomen,  for 
Birotteau  was  inclined  to  corpulence.  He  wore  blue  breeches, 
black  silk  stockings,  and  walking-shoes  adorned  with  ribbon 
bows  that  were  apt  to  come  unfastened.  Out  of  doors  his 
too  ample  green  overcoat  and  broad-brimmed  hat  gave  him  a 
somewhat  Quakerly  appearance.  On  Sunday  evenings  he 
wore  a  coat  of  chestnut-brown  cloth,  with  long  tails  and  ample 


54  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

skirts,  and  black  silk  breeches  ;  the  corners  of  the  inevitable 
vest  were  turned  down  a  little  to  display  the  pleated  shirt- 
front  beneath,  and  there  were  gold  buckles  on  his  shoes. 
Until  the  year  1819  his  person  was  further  adorned  by  two 
parallel  lines  of  watch-chain,  but  he  only  wore  the  second 
when  in  full  dress. 

Such  was  Cesar  Birotteau — a  worthy  soul,  from  whom  the 
mysterious  powers  that  preside  at  the  making  of  man  had 
withheld  the  faculty  of  seeing  life  or  politics  as  a  whole,  and 
the  capacity  of  rising  above  the  social  level  of  the  lower 
middle  class ;  in  all  things  he  was  destined  to  follow  in  the 
ruts  of  the  old  road ;  he  had  caught  his  opinions  like  an  in- 
fection, and  he  put  them  in  practice  without  examining  into 
them.  But  if  he  was  blind,  he  was  a  good  man  ;  if  he  was 
not  very  clever,  he  was  deeply  religious,  and  his  heart  was 
pure.  In  that  heart  there  shone  but  one  love,  the  light  of 
his  life  and  its  motive-power;  for  his  desire  to  rise  in  the 
world,  like  the  meagre  knowledge  that  he  had  learned  in  it, 
had  its  source  in  his  love  for  his  wife  and  daughter. 

As  for  Mme.  C6sar,  at  that  time,  at  the  age  of  thirty-seven, 
she  so  exactly  resembled  the  Venus  of  Milo  that,  when  the 
Due  de  Riviere  sent  the  beautiful  statue  to  France,  all  her 
acquaintance  recognized  the  likeness.  A  few  short  months, 
and  trouble  so  swiftly  spread  its  sallow  tinge  over  the  dazzling 
fairness  of  her  face,  so  ruthlessly  darkened  and  hollowed  the 
blue-veined  circles  in  which  the  beautiful  hazel  eyes  were  set, 
that  she  came  to  look  like  an  aged  Madonna ;  for  in  the  wreck 
of  her  beauty  she  never  lost  her  sweet  ingenuousness,  though 
there  was  a  sad  expression  in  the  clear  eyes ;  and  it  was  im- 
possible not  to  see  in  her  a  still  beautiful  woman,  staid  in  her 
demeanor  and  full  of  dignity.  Moreover,  during  this  ball  of 
Cesar's  planning,  her  beauty  was  to  shine  forth  radiantly  and 
exquisitely  adorned  for  the  last  time  to  the  admiration  of 
beholders. 

Every  life  has  its  apogee ;  there  is  a  time  in  every  existence 


CESAR  B1ROTTEAU.  65 

when  active  causes  bring  about  exactly  proportionate  results. 
This  high-noon  of  life,  when  the  vital  forces  are  evenly  bal- 
anced and  put  forth  in  all  the  glory  of  their  strength,  is  com- 
mon not  only  to  organic  life ;  you  will  find  it  even  in  the 
history  of  cities  and  nations  and  institutions  and  ideas,  in 
commerce,  and  in  every  kind  of  human  effort,  for,  like  noble 
families  and  dynasties,  these  too  have  their  birth  and  rise  and 
fall. 

How  comes  it  that  this  argument  of  waxing  and  waning  is 
applied  so  inexorably  to  everything  throughout  the  system  of 
things  ? — to  death  as  to  life ;  for  in  times  of  pestilence  death 
runs  his  course — abates,  returns  again,  lies  dormant.  Who 
knows  but  that  our  globe  itself  is  a  rocket  somewhat  longer 
lived  than  other  fireworks  ? 

History,  telling  over  and  over  again  the  reasons  of  the  rise 
and  fall  of  all  that  has  been  in  the  world  in  the  past,  might 
be  a  warning  to  man  that  there  is  a  moment  when  the  active 
play  of  all  his  faculties  must  cease ;  but  neither  conquerors, 
nor  actors,  nor  women,  nor  writers  heed  the  wholesome  ad- 
monition. Cesar  Birotteau,  who  should  have  looked  upon 
himself  as  having  reached  the  apogee  of  his  career,  mistook 
the  summit  for  the  starting-point.  He  did  not  know  the 
reason  of  the  downfalls  of  which  history  is  full ;  nay,  neither 
kings  nor  peoples  have  made  any  effort  to  engrave  in  imper- 
ishable characters  the  causes  of  the  catastrophes  of  which  the 
history  of  royal  and  of  commercial  houses  affords  such  con- 
spicuous examples.  Why  should  not  pyramids  be  reared  anew 
to  put  us  constantly  in  mind  of  the  immutable  law  which  should 
govern  the  affairs  of  nations  as  well  as  of  individuals :  When 
the  effect  produced  is  no  longer  in  direct  relation  with  nor  in 
exact  proportion  to  the  cause,  disorganization  sets  in  ?  And  yet 
— these  monuments  are  all  about  us — in  legends,  in  the  stones 
that  cry  out  to  us  of  a  past,  and  bear  perpetual  record  to  the 
freaks  of  a  stubborn  Fate  whose  hand  sweeps  away  our  illu- 
sions, and  makes  it  clear  to  us  that  the  greatest  events  resolve 


56  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

themselves  at  last  into  an  Idea,  and  the  "  Tale  of  Troy  "  and 
the  "  Story  of  Napoleon  "  are  poems  and  nothing  more. 

Would  that  this  story  might  be  the  Epic  of  the  Bourgeoisie ; 
there  are  dealings  of  fate  with  man  which  inspire  no  voice, 
because  they  lack  grandeur,  yet  are  even  for  that  very  reason 
immense :  for  this  is  not  the  story  of  an  isolated  soul,  but  of 
a  whole  nation  of  sorrows. 

Cesar  as  he  dropped  off  to  sleep  feared  that  his  wife  might 
bring  forward  some  peremptory  objection  in  the  morning, 
and  laid  it  upon  himself  to  wake  betimes  and  settle  every- 
thing. As  soon  as  it  grew  light,  he  rose  noiselessly,  leaving 
his  wife  asleep,  dressed  quickly,  and  went  down  into  the  shop 
just  as  the  boy  was  taking  down  the  numbered  shutters. 
Birotteau,  finding  himself  in  solitary  possession,  stood  wait- 
ing in  the  doorway  for  the  assistants,  watching  critically  mean- 
while the  way  in  which  Raguet  the  errand  boy  discharged  his 
duties,  for  Birotteau  was  an  old  hand.  The  weather  was 
magnificent  in  spite  of  the  cold. 

"  Popinot,  fetch  your  hat  and  your  walking  shoes,  and  tell 
Monsieur  Celestin  to  come  down ;  you  and  I  will  go  to  the 
Tuileries  and  have  a  little  talk  together,"  said  he,  when 
Anselme  came. 

Popinot,  that  admirable  foil  to  du  Tillet,  whom  one  of 
those  happy  chances  which  induce  a  belief  in  a  protecting 
providence  had  established  in  Cesar's  houshold,  will  play  so 
great  a  part  in  this  story  that  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  sketch 
of  him  here. 

Mme.  Ragon's  maiden  name  was  Popinot.  She  had  two 
brothers.  One  of  them,  the  youngest  of  the  family,  was  at 
the  present  time  a  judge  in  the  Tribunal  of  First  Instance  of 
the  Seine.  The  elder  had  gone  into  the  wool-trade,  had  lost 
his  patrimony,  and  died,  leaving  his  only  son  to  the  Ragons 
and  his  brother  the  judge,  who  had  no  children.  The  child's 
mother  had  died  at  his  birth. 

Mme.  Ragon  had  found  this  situation  for  her  nephew,  and 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  57 

hoped  to  see  him  succeed  to  Birotteau.  Anselme  Popinot 
(for  that  was  his  name)  was  short  and  club-footed,  a  dispensa- 
tion common  to  Byron,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  Talleyrand, 
lest  others  thus  afflicted  should  be  too  much  discouraged.  He 
had  the  brilliant  complexion  covered  with  freckles  which 
usually  distinguishes  red-haired  people  ;  but  a  clear  forehead, 
eyes  like  agates  streaked  with  gray,  a  pretty  mouth,  a  pale 
face,  the  charm  of  youthful  diffidence,  and  a  want  of  confi- 
dence in  himself,  due  to  his  physical  deformity,  aroused  a 
kindly  feeling  toward  him  in  others.  We  love  the  weak,  and 
people  felt  interested  in  Popinot. 

Little  Popinot,  as  everybody  called  him,  took  after  his 
family.  They  were  people  essentially  religious,  whose  virtues 
were  informed  by  intelligence,  whose  quiet  lives  were  full  of 
good  deeds.  So  the  child,  brought  up  by  his  uncle  the  judge, 
united  all  the  qualities  pleasing  in  youth ;  he  was  a  good  and 
affectionate  boy,  a  little  bashful,  but  full  of  enthusiasm ; 
docile  as  a  lamb,  but  hard-working,  faithful,  and  steady; 
endowed  with  all  the  virtues  of  a  Christian  in  the  early  days 
of  the  church. 

When  Popinot  heard  of  the  proposed  walk  to  the  Tuileries, 
the  most  unlooked-for  remark  that  his  awe-inspiring  employer 
could  have  made  at  that  time  of  day,  his  thoughts  went  to  his 
own  settlement  in  life,  and  thence  all  at  once  to  Cesarine,  the 
real  queen  of  roses,  the  living  sign  of  the  house.  He  had 
fallen  in  love  on  his  very  first  day  in  the  shop,  two  months 
before  du  Tillet's  departure.  He  was  obliged  to  stop  more 
than  once  on  his  way  upstairs,  his  heart  so  swelled  and  his 
pulses  beat  so  hard. 

In  another  moment  he  came  down,  followed  by  Celestin, 
the  first  assistant.  Then  Anselme  and  his  employer  set  out 
without  a  word  for  the  Tuileries. 

Anselme  Popinot  was  just  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  Birotteau 
had  married  at  one-and-twenty,  so  Anselme  saw  no  hindrance 
to  his  marriage  with  Cesarine  on  that  score.  It  was  her  beauty 


58  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

and  her  father's  wealth  that  set  enormous  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  such  ambitious  wishes  as  his,  but  love  grows  with  every 
up-leaping  of  hope ;  the  wilder  the  hopes,  the  more  he  clung 
to  them,  and  his  longings  grew  the  stronger  for  the  distance 
between  him  and  his  love.  Happy  boy,  who  in  a  time  when 
all  and  sundry  are  brought  down  to  the  same  level,  when 
every  head  is  crowned  with  a  precisely  similar  hat,  can  still 
contrive  to  create  a  distance  between  a  perfumer's  daughter 
and  himself — the  scion  of  an  old  Parisian  family  !  And  he 
was  happy,  in  spite  of  his  doubts  and  fears :  every  day  of  his 
life  he  sat  next  to  Cesarine  at  dinner  ;  he  set  about  his  busi- 
ness with  a  zeal  and  enthusiasm  that  left  no  element  of 
drudgery  in  his  work ;  he  did  everything  in  the  name  of 
Cesarine,  and  never  wearied.  At  one-and-twenty  devotion  is 
food  sufficient  for  love. 

"  He  will  be  a  merchant  some  of  these  days ;  he  will  get 
on,"  Cesar  would  say,  speaking  of  Anselme  to  Mme.  Ragon, 
and  he  would  praise  Anselme's  activity  in  the  filling-out  de- 
partment, extolling  his  quickness  at  comprehending  the  mys- 
teries of  the  craft,  relating  how  that,  when  goods  were  to  be 
sent  off  in  a  hurry,  Anselme  would  roll  up  his  sleeves  and  work 
bare-armed  at  packing  the  cases  and  nailing  down  the  lids, 
and  the  lame  lad  would  do  more  than  all  the  rest  of  them  put 
together. 

There  was  another  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  or- 
phan's success.  It  was  a  well-known  and  recognized  fact  that 
Alexandre  Crottat,  Roguin's  head  clerk,  the  son  of  a  rich 
farmer  of  la  Brie,  hoped  to  marry  Cesarine ;  and  there  were 
other  difficulties  yet  more  formidable.  In  the  depths  of 
Popinot's  heart  there  lay  buried  sad  secrets  which  set  a  yet 
wider  gulf  between  him  and  Cesarine.  The  Ragons,  on  whom 
he  might  have  counted,  were  in  difficulties ;  the  orphan  boy 
was  happy  to  take  them  his  scanty  salary  to  help  them  to  eke  out 
a  living.  But,  in  spite  of  all  these  things,  he  hoped  to  suc- 
ceed !  More  than  once  he  had  caught  a  glance  from  Cesarine, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  5» 

and  beneath  her  apparent  pride  he  had  dared  to  read  a  secret 
thought  full  of  tender  hopes  in  the  depths  of  her  blue  eyes. 
So  he  worked  on,  set  in  a  ferment  by  that  gleam  of  hope, 
tremulous  and  mute,  like  all  young  men  in  a  like  case  when 
life  is  breaking  into  blossom. 

"Popinot,"  the  good  man  began,  "is  your  aunt  quite 
well?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Somehow  she  has  seemed  to  me  to  have  an  anxious  look  for 
some  time  past ;  can  something  have  gone  askew  with  them  ? 
Look  here,  my  boy,  you  must  not  make  a  stranger  of  me,  that 
am  almost  like  one  of  the  family,  for  I  have  known  your  Uncle 
Ragon  these  five-and-twenty  years.  When  I  first  came  to 
him  I  was  fresh  from  the  country  and  wore  a  pair  of  hob- 
nailed boots.  They  call  the  place  the  Treasury  Farm,  but  all 
I  brought  away  with  me  was  one  gold  louis  which  my  god- 
mother gave  me,  Madame  the  late  Marquise  d'Uxelles,  who 
was  related  to  le  Due  and  la  Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt,  who 
are  among  our  patrons.  So  I  always  say  a  prayer  every  Sun- 
day for  her  and  all  the  family ;  and  her  niece,  Madame  de 
Mortsauf,  in  Touraine,  has  all  her  perfumery  from  us.  Cus- 
tomers are  always  coming  to  me  through  them.  There  is 
Monsieur  de  Vandenesse,  for  example,  who  spends  twelve 
hundred  francs  with  us  every  year.  One  ought  to  be  grateful 
from  prudence,  if  one  is  not  grateful  by  nature ;  but  I  am  a 
well-wisher  to  you,  without  an  after-thought  and  for  your  own 
sake." 

"  Ah,  sir,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  say  so,  you  had  a  level 
head." 

"  No,  my  boy,  no ;  that  won't  do  everything.  I  don't  say 
that  my  headpiece  isn't  as  good  as  another's,  but  I  stuck  to 
honesty  through  thick  and  thin  ;  I  was  steady,  and  I  never 
loved  any  one  but  my  wife.  Love  is  a  fine  vehicle,  a  neat 
expression  of  Monsieur  de  Villele's  yesterday  at  the  Tribune." 

"  Love  !  "  cried  Popinot.     "  Oh  !  sir,  do  you ?  " 


60  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Stop  a  bit,  stop  a  bit !  There  is  old  Roguin  coming 
along  the  further  side  of  the  Place  Louis  XV.  at  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  What  can  the  old  boy  be  about?"  said 
Cesar  to  himself,  and  he  forgot  Anselme  Popinot  and  the 
hazelnut  oil. 

His  wife's  theories  came  up  in  his  memory,  and,  instead  of 
turning  into  the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  he  walked  on  to  meet 
the  notary.  Anselme  followed  at  a  distance,  quite  at  a  loss 
to  explain  the  sudden  interest  which  Birotteau  appeared  to 
take  in  a  matter  so  unimportant ;  but  very  happy  in  the  en- 
couragement which  he  derived  from  his  employer's  little 
speech  about  hobnailed  boots  and  louis-d'or,  and  love. 

Roguin,  a  tall,  burly  man,  with  a  pimpled  face,  an  almost 
bald  forehead,  and  black  hair,  had  not  formerly  been  lacking 
in  comeliness ;  and  he  had  been  young  and  ambitious  once, 
too,  and  from  a  mere  clerk  had  come  to  be  a  notary ;  but  now 
a  keen  observer  would  have  read  in  his  face  the  exhaustion 
and  fatigue  of  a  jaded  seeker  after  pleasure.  When  a  man 
plunges  into  the  mire  of  excess,  his  face  hardly  escapes  with- 
out a  splash,  and  the  lines  engraved  on  Roguin's  countenance 
and  its  florid  color  were  alike  ignoble.  Instead  of  the  pure 
glow  which  suffuses  the  tissues  of  men  of  temperate  life  and 
imparts  a  bloom  of  health,  there  was  visible  in  Roguin  the 
tainted  blood  inflamed  by  a  strain  against  which  the  body 
rebelled.  His  nose  was  meanly  turned  up  at  the  end,  as  is 
apt  to  be  the  case  with  those  in  whom  humors  taking  this 
channel  induce  an  internal  affection,  which  a  virtuous  Queen 
of  France  innocently  believed  to  be  a  misfortune  common  to 
the  species,  never  having  approached  any  man  but  the  King 
sufficiently  close  to  discover  her  mistake.  Roguin's  efforts 
to  disguise  his  infirmity  by  taking  quantities  of  Spanish  snuff 
served  rather  to  aggravate  the  troublesome  symptoms,  which 
had  been  the  principal  cause  of  his  misfortunes. 

Is  it  not  carrying  flattery  of  society  somewhat  too  far  to 
paint  individuals  always  in  false  colors,  to  conceal  in  certain 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  61 

cases  the  real  causes  of  their  vicissitudes,  so  often  brought 
about  by  disease  ?  Physical  ills,  in  their  moral  aspects  and 
the  influences  that  they  bring  to  bear  on  the  mechanism  of 
life,  have  perhaps  been  too  much  neglected  hitherto  by  the 
historian  of  manners.  Mme.  Cesar  had  rightly  guessed  the 
secret  of  Roguin's  married  life. 

His  wife,  a  charming  girl,  the  only  daughter  of  Chevrel, 
the  banker,  felt  an  unconquerable  repugnance  for  the  poor 
notary,  which  dated  from  the  night  of  her  marriage,  and  had 
been  determined  to  demand  an  immediate  divorce.  But 
Roguin,  too  happy  to  have  a  wife  who  brought  him  five  hun- 
dred thousand  francs,  to  say  nothing  of  her  expectations,  had 
implored  her  not  to  enter  her  plea,  leaving  her  her  liberty, 
and  accepting  all  the  consequences  of  such  a  compact.  Mme. 
Roguin,  mistress  of  the  situation,  treated  her  husband  as  a 
courtesan  treats  an  elderly  adorer.  Roguin  soon  found  his 
wife  too  dear,  and,  like  many  another  Parisian,  had  a  second 
establishment  in  the  town.  At  first  the  expenditure  did  not 
exceed  a  moderate  limit. 

For  a  while  Roguin  found,  at  no  great  outlay,  grisettes  who 
were  too  glad  of  his  protection  ;  but  at  the  end  of  three  years 
he  fell  a  prey  to  a  violent  sexagenarian  passion  for  one  of  the 
most  magnificent  creatures  of  the  time,  known  as  the  Beau- 
tiful Dutchwoman  in  the  calendars  of  the  demi-monde,  for  she 
shortly  afterward  fell  back  into  that  gulf,  which  her  death 
made  illustrious.  One  of  Roguin's  clients  had  formerly 
brought  her  to  Paris  from  Bruges;  and  when,  in  1815,  politi- 
cal considerations  forced  him  to  fly  he  made  her  over  to  the 
notary.  Roguin  had  taken  a  little  house  in  the  Champs- 
Elyse"es  for  his  enchantress ;  he  had  furnished  it  handsomely, 
and  had  allowed  himself  to  be  led  by  her,  until  he  had  squan- 
dered away  his  fortune  to  satisfy  her  extravagant  whims. 

The  gloomy  expression,  which  vanished  from  Roguin's 
countenance  at  the  sight  of  his  client,  was  connected  with 
mysterious  events,  wherein  laid  the  secret  of  du  Tillet's  rapid 


62  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

success.  While  du  Tillet  was  still  under  Birotteau's  roof,  on 
the  first  Sunday  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  of  observing 
how  M.  and  Mme.  Roguin  were  situated  with  regard  to  each 
other,  his  plans  had  undergone  a  change.  His  designs  upon 
Mme.  Cesar  had  been  subordinated  to  another  purpose ;  he  had 
meant  to  compel  an  offer  of  Cesarine's  hand  as  compensation 
for  repulsed  advances ;  but  it  cost  him  the  less  to  give  up  this 
marriage  since  he  had  discovered  that  Cesar  was  not  rich,  as 
he  had  believed.  Then  du  Tillet  played  the  spy  on  the 
notary,  insinuated  himself  into  his  confidence,  obtained  an 
introduction  to  the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman,  ascertained  the 
terms  on  which  she  stood  with  Roguin,  and  learned  that 
she  was  threatening  to  dismiss  her  adorer  if  he  curtailed  her 
extravagance.  The  Beautiful  Dutchwoman  was  one  of  those 
scatterbrained  creatures  who  take  money  without  disturbing 
themselves  as  to  how  it  was  made  or  how  they  come  by  it ; 
women  who  would  give  a  banquet  with  a  parricide's  dollars. 
She  took  no  thought  for  the  morrow  and  was  careless  of  yes- 
terday. The  future  for  her  meant  after  dinner,  and  eternity 
lay  between  the  present  moment  and  the  end  of  the  month, 
even  when  she  had  bills  to  fall  due.  Du  Tillet  was  delighted 
to  find  a  first  lever  to  his  hand,  and  began  his  campaign  by 
obtaining  a  reduction  from  the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman,  who 
agreed  to  solace  Roguin's  existence  for  thirty  thousand  francs 
instead  of  fifty  thousand,  a  kind  of  service  which  sexagenarian 
passion  rarely  forgets. 

At  length,  one  night  after  deep  potations,  Roguin  opened 
out  his  financial  position  to  du  Tillet  in  an  after-supper  confi- 
dence. His  real  estate  was  mortgaged  to  its  full  value  under 
his  wife's  marriage  settlement,  and  in  his  infatuation  he  had 
appropriated  moneys  deposited  with  him  by  his  clients ;  more 
than  half  the  value  of  his  practice  had  been  embezzled  in  this 
way.  When  he  had  run  through  the  rest,  the  unfortunate 
Roguin  would  blow  his  brains  out,  for  he  thought  he  should 
diminish  the  scandal  of  his  failure  by  exciting  the  pity  of 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  63 

the  public.  Du  Tillet,  listening,  beheld  success,  rapid  and 
assured,  gleaming  like  a  flash  of  lightning  through  the  ob- 
scurity of  drunkenness.  He  reassured  Roguin,  and  repaid 
his  confidence  by  persuading  him  to  fire  his  pistols  into  the 
air. 

"When  a  man  of  your  calibre  takes  such  risks  upon  him- 
self," said  he,  "  he  ought  not  to  flounder  about  like  a  fool; 
he  should  set  to  work  boldly." 

Du  Tillet  counseled  Roguin  to  help  himself  to  a  large  sum 
of  money,  and  to  intrust  it  to  him  (du  Tillet)  to  speculate 
boldly  with  it  on  the  Stock  Exchange,  or  in  some  other  en- 
terprise among  the  hundreds  that  were  being  started  at  that 
speculative  epoch.  If  the  stroke  was  successful,  the  two  of 
them  should  found  a  bank,  speculate  with  the  deposits,  and 
with  the  profits  the  notary  should  satisfy  his  cravings.  If  the 
luck  went  against  them,  Roguin  should  go  abroad,  instead  of 
killing  himself,  for  his  devoted  du  Tillet  would  be  faithful  to 
the  last  penny.  It  was  a  rope  flung  out  to  a  drowning  man, 
and  Roguin  did  not  see  that  the  perfumer's  salesman  was 
fastening  it  around  his  neck. 

Du  Tillet,  master  of  Roguin's  secret,  used  it  to  establish 
his  power  over  the  wife,  the  husband,  and  the  mistress.  Mme. 
Roguin,  to  whom  he  gave  warning  of  a  disaster,  which  she 
was  far  from  suspecting,  accepted  du  Tillet's  assiduities,  and 
then  it  was  that  the  latter  left  the  perfumer's  shop,  feeling 
that  his  future  was  secure.  It  was  not  difficult  to  persuade 
the  mistress  to  risk  a  sum  of  money  that  in  case  of  need  she 
might  not  be  obliged  to  go  on  the  street.  The  wife  looked 
into  her  affairs,  and  accumulated  a  small  amount  of  capital, 
which  she  handed  over  to  the  man  in  whom  her  husband 
placed  confidence,  for  at  the  outset  the  notary  put  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  into  the  hands  of  his  accomplice.  Brought 
in  this  way  into  close  contact  with  Mme.  Roguin,  du  Tillet 
contrived  to  transform  interest  into  affection  and  to  inspire  a 
violent  passion  in  that  handsome  woman.  In  his  speculations 


64  C£SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

on  the  Stock  Exchange  he  naturally  shared  in  the  profits  of 
his  three  associates,  but  this  was  not  enough  for  him ;  he  had 
the  audacity  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  an  opponent, 
who  refunded  to  him  the  amount  of  fictitious  losses,  for  he 
played  for  his  own  hand  as  well  as  for  his  clients. 

As  soon  as  he  had  fifty  thousand  francs,  he  was  sure  of 
making  a  large  fortune.  He  watched  with  the  eagle's  eye, 
that  was  one  of  his  characteristics,  over  the  phases  of  political 
life  in  France ;  he  speculated  for  a  fall  in  the  funds  during 
the  campaign  of  France,  and  for  a  rise  when  the  Bourbons 
came  back. 

Two  months  after  the  return  of  Louis  XVIII.,  Mme.  Ro- 
guin  possessed  two  hundred  thousand  francs  and  du  Tillet  a 
hundred  thousand  crowns.  In  the  notary's  eyes  this  young 
man  was  an  angel ;  he  had  restored  order  in  his  affairs.  But 
the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman  fell  a  victim  to  a  wasting  com- 
plaint which  nothing  could  cure,  a  virulent  cancer  called 
Maxime  de  Trailles,  one  of  the  late  Emperor's  pages.  Du 
Tillet  discovered  the  woman's  real  name  from  her  signature 
to  a  document.  It  was  Sarah  Gobseck.  Then  he  remem- 
bered that  he  had  heard  of  a  money-lender  of  the  name  of 
Gobseck  ;  and,  struck  by  the  coincidence,  paid  a  visit  to  that 
aged  discounter  of  bills  and  providence  of  young  men  with 
prospects,  to  find  out  how  this  female  relative's  credit  stood 
with  him.  The  bill-broking  Brutus  proved  inexorable  where 
his  grandniece  was  concerned,  but  du  Tillet  himself  managed 
to  find  favor  in  his  eyes  by  posing  as  Sarah's  banker  with 
capital  to  invest.  The  Norman  and  the  money-lender  found 
each  other  congenial. 

Gobseck  wanted  a  clever  young  fellow  who  could  look  after 
a  bit  of  business  abroad  for  him  just  then.  The  return  of  the 
Bourbons  had  taken  a  State  auditor  by  surprise.  To  this 
financier,  wishful  to  stand  well  at  Court,  it  had  occurred  that 
he  might  buy  up  the  debts  contracted  by  the  Princes  in  Ger- 
many during  the  emigration.  He  offered  the  profits  of  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  65 

affair,  which  for  him  was  purely  a  matter  of  policy,  to  any 
one  who  would  advance  the  necessary  money.  Old  Gobseck 
had  no  mind  to  disburse  moneys  over  and  above  the  market 
value  of  the  debts,  into  which  a  shrewd  representative  must 
first  examine.  Money-lenders  trust  nobody ;  they  must  always 
have  a  guarantee ;  the  occasion  is  omnipotent  with  them ; 
they  are  ice  when  they  have  no  need  of  a  man,  affable  and 
obliging  when  he  is  likely  to  be  useful.  Du  Tillet  knew  the 
immense  part  played,  below  the  surface,  in  the  Paris  money 
market  by  Werbrust  and  Gigonnet,  discount  brokers  of  the 
Rue  Saint-Denis  and  Rue  Saint-Martin,  and  by  Palma,  a 
banker  in  the  Faubourg  Poissonniere,  who  was  almost  always 
associated  with  Gobseck.  He  therefore  offered  to  pay  down 
caution  money,  requiring  on  his  own  side  a  share  in  the  profits 
of  the  transaction,  and  asking  that  these  gentlemen  should 
employ  in  the  money-lending  business  the  capital  which  he 
should  deposit  with  them.  In  this  way  he  secured  supporters. 
Then  he  accompanied  M.  Clement  Chardin  des  Lupeaulx  on 
a  trip  to  Germany  during  the  Hundred  Days,  and  came  back 
with  the  Second  Restoration,  with  some  added  knowledge 
that  should  lead  to  success  rather  than  with  actual  wealth. 
He  had  had  an  initiation  into  the  secrets  of  one  of  the  clever- 
est schemers  in  Paris ;  he  had  won  the  good-will  of  the  man 
whom  he  had  been  set  to  watch  ;  a  dexterous  juggler  had  laid 
bare  for  him  the  springs  of  political  intrigue  and  the  rules  of 
the  game. 

Du  Tillet's  intelligence  was  of  the  order  which  understands 
at  half  a  word ;  this  journey  formed  him.  On  his  return  he 
found  Mme.  Roguin  still  faithful ;  but  the  poor  notary  was 
expecting  Ferdinand  with  quite  as  much  impatience  as  his 
wife.  The  Beautiful  Dutchwoman  had  ruined  him  again  ! 

Du  Tillet,  questioning  the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman,  could 
not  elicit  from  her  an  account  that  represented  all  the  money 
which  she  had  squandered.  And  then  it  was  that  he  dis- 
covered the  secret  so  carefully  kept  from  him — Sarah  Gob- 
5 


66  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

seck's  infatuation  for  Maxima  de  Trailles,  known  at  the  very 
outset  of  his  career  of  vice  and  debauchery  for  a  political 
hanger-on  of  a  kind  indispensable  to  all  good  government, 
and  for  an  insatiable  gambler.  After  this  discovery  du  Tillet 
understood  old  Gobseck's  indifference  to  his  grandniece. 

At  this  critical  juncture  du  Tillet  the  banker  (for  by  this 
time  he  was  a  banker)  strongly  recommended  Roguin  to  put 
by  something  for  a  rainy  day ;  to  engage  some  of  his  richest 
clients  in  a  business  speculation,  and  then  to  keep  back  con- 
siderable sums  out  of  the  money  paid  over  to  him,  in  case  he 
should  be  compelled  to  become  a  bankrupt  in  the  course  of  a 
second  career  of  speculation.  After  various  rises  and  falls  in 
the  price  of  stocks,  which  brought  luck  only  to  du  Tillet  and 
Mme.  Roguin,  the  notary's  hour  struck.  He  was  insolvent, 
and  thereupon,  in  his  extremity,  his  closest  friend  exploited 
him,  and  du  Tillet  discovered  that  speculation  in  building 
land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Madeleine.  Naturally  one 
hundred  thousand  francs  which  Birotteau  had  deposited  with 
Roguin  until  an  investment  should  be  found  for  them  were 
paid  over  to  du  Tillet,  who,  bent  upon  compassing  the  per- 
fumer's ruin,  made  Roguin  understand  that  he  ran  less  risk  by 
ensnaring  his  own  intimate  friends  in  his  toils. 

"A  friend,"  said  du  Tillet,  "will  not  go  all  lengths  even 
in  anger." 

There  are  not  many  people  at  this  present  day  who  know 
how  little  land  was  worth  per  foot  in  the  district  of  the  Mad- 
eleine at  this  time ;  but  the  building  lots  must  necessarily 
shortly  be  sold  for  more  than  their  momentary  depreciation, 
caused  by  the  necessity  of  finding  purchasers  who  would  profit 
by  the  opportunity.  Now  it  was  du  Tillet's  idea  to  reap  the 
benefit  without  keeping  his  money  locked  up  in  a  lengthy 
speculation.  In  other  words,  he  meant  to  kill  the  affair,  so 
that  a  corpse  which  he  knew  how  to  resuscitate  might  be 
knocked  down  to  him. 

In  such  emergencies  as  this,  the  Gobsecks,  Palmas,  Wer- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  67 

brusts,  and  Gigonnets  all  lent  each  other  a  hand,  but  du  Tillet 
did  not  know  them  well  enough  to  ask  them  to  help  him;  and, 
beside,  he  meant  to  hide  his  action  in  the  matter  so  thoroughly 
that,  while  he  steered  the  whole  business,  he  might  receive  all 
the  profits  and  none  of  the  disgrace  of  the  robbery.  So  he 
saw  the  necessity  of  one  of  those  animated  lay  figures  termed 
"men  of  straw"  in  commercial  phrase.  The  man  who  had 
once  before  acted  the  part  of  a  stock-jobber  for  him  seemed  to 
be  a  suitable  tool  to  his  hand,  and  he  infringed  the  divine  rights 
by  creating  a  man.  Of  a  former  commercial  traveler,  without 
a  centime  on  this  earth,  with  no  ability,  no  capacity  save  for 
empty  rambling  talk  on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  and  but  just  suf- 
ficient wit  to  suffer  himself  to  be  drilled  in  a  part  and  to  play 
it  without  compromising  the  piece,  and  yet  endowed  with  the 
rarest  sense  of  honor — that  is  to  say,  a  faculty  for  silently 
accepting  the  dishonor  of  his  principal — of  him,  du  Tillet 
made  a  banker,  the  originator  and  promoter  of  commercial  en- 
terprises on  the  largest  scale;  him  he  metamorphosed  into 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  Claparon. 

Should  the  exigencies  of  du  Tillet's  affairs  at  any  time  de- 
mand a  bankruptcy,  it  was  to  be  Charles  Claparon's  fate  to 
be  delivered  over  to  Jews  and  Pharisees,  and  Claparon  knew 
it.  Still,  for  the  present,  the  scraps  and  pickings  that  fell  to 
his  share  were  an  El  Dorado  for  a  poor  devil  who,  when  his 
chum  du  Tillet  came  across  him,  was  sauntering  along  the 
boulevards  with  no  prospects  beyond  the  two-franc  piece  in 
his  pockets  ;  so  his  friendship  for  and  devotion  to  du  Tillet, 
swelled  by  a  gratitude  that  did  not  look  to  the  future  and 
stimulated  by  the  cravings  of  a  dissolute  and  disreputable  life, 
led  him  to  say  Amen  to  everything. 

When  he  had  once  sold  his  honor  he  saw  that  it  was  risked 
with  so  much  prudence  that  at  length  he  came  to  have  a  sort 
of  dog-like  attachment  for  his  old  comrade  du  Tillet.  Clap- 
aron was  a  very  ugly  performing  poodle,  but  he  was  ready  at 
any  moment  to  make  the  leap  of  Curtius  for  his  master. 


68  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

In  the  present  scheme  Claparon  was  to  represent  one-half 
of  the  purchasers  of  the  lots,  as  Birotteau  represented  the 
other  half.  Then  the  bills  which  Claparon  would  receive 
from  Birotteau  should  be  discounted  by  some  money-lender, 
whose  name  du  Tillet  would  borrow ;  so  that,  when  Roguin 
absconded  with  the  rest  of  the  purchase-money,  Birotteau 
would  be  left  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  Du  Tillet  meant  to  direct 
the  action  of  the  assignees ;  there  should  be  a  forced  sale  of 
the  building  land,  and  du  Tillet  meant  to  be  the  purchaser ; 
he  would  buy  it  for  about  half  its  value,  and  pay  for  it  with 
Roguin's  money  and  the  dividend  of  the  bankruptcy;  so 
under  different  names  he  was  in  possession  of  the  money  paid 
down  by  the  perfumer  and  his  creditor  to  boot. 

It  was  a  prospect  of  a  goodly  share  of  the  spoils  that  led 
Roguin  to  meddle  in  this  scheme;  but  he  had  practically 
surrendered  himself  at  discretion  to  a  man  who  could  and 
did  take  the  lion's  part.  It  was  impossible  to  bring  du  Tillet 
into  a  court  of  law,  and  the  notary  in  a  remote  part  of  Swit- 
zerland, where  he  found  beauties  of  a  less  expensive  kind, 
was  lucky  to  have  a  bone  flung  to  him  once  a  month  or  so. 

The  ugly  scheme  was  no  deliberate  invention,  no  outcome 
of  the  breedings  of  a  tragedian  weaving  a  plot,  but  the  result 
of  circumstance.  Hatred,  unaccompanied  by  a  desire  for 
revenge,  is  as  seed  sown  upon  the  granite  rock:  du  Tillet 
swore  to  be  revenged  upon  Cesar  Birotteau,  and  the  prompt- 
ing was  one  of  the  most  natural  things  in  the  world ;  if  it 
had  been  otherwise,  there  had  been  no  quarrel  between  angels 
of  darkness  and  the  angels  of  light. 

Du  Tillet  could  not,  without  great  inconvenience,  murder 
the  one  man  in  Paris  who  knew  that  he  had  been  guilty  of 
petty  theft ;  but  he  could  sully  his  old  master's  name  and 
crush  him  until  his  testimony  was  no  longer  admissible.  For 
a  long  time  past  the  thought  of  vengeance  had  been  germin- 
ating in  his  mind  ;  but  it  had  come  to  nothing.  The  rush 
of  life  in  Paris  is  so  swift  and  so  full  of  stir,  chance  counts 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  69 

for  so  much  in  it,  that  even  the  most  energetic  haters  do  not 
look  very  far  ahead  ;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  constant 
ebb  and  flow  is  unfavorable  to  premeditated  action,  it  affords 
excellent  opportunities  for  carrying  out  projects  that  lurk  in 
politic  brains,  clever  enough  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  chances 
that  come  with  the  tide.  Du  Tillet  had  had  a  dim  inkling 
of  the  possibility  of  ruining  Cesar  from  the  moment  when 
Roguin  first  opened  out  his  case  to  him ;  and  he  had  not 
miscalculated. 

Roguin,  meanwhile,  on  the  very  point  of  leaving  his  idol, 
drained  the  rest  of  the  philtre  from  the  broken  cup,  going 
daily  to  the  Champs-Elysees  and  returning  home  in  the  small 
hours.  There  were  good  grounds,  therefore,  for  Madame 
Cesar's  suspicious  theories.  When  a  man  has  made  up  his 
mind  to  play  such  a  part  as  du  Tillet  had  assigned  to  Roguin, 
he  perforce  acquires  the  talents  of  a  great  actor ;  he  has  the 
eyes  of  a  lynx  and  the  penetration  of  a  seer ;  he  finds  ways 
of  magnetizing  his  dupe ;  so  the  notary  had  seen  Birotteau 
long  before  Birotteau  set  eyes  on  him ;  and  when  he  saw  that 
he  was  recognized,  he  held  out  a  hand  while  he  was  still  at 
some  distance. 

"  I  have  just  been  making  the  will  of  a  great  person  who 
has  not  a  week  to  live,"  said  he,  with  the  most  natural  air  in 
the  world,  "  but  they  have  treated  me  like  a  village  doctor — 
sent  their  carriage  to  fetch  me  and  let  me  go  home  from 
thence  afoot." 

A  slight  cloud  of  suspicion  which  had  darkened  the  per- 
fumer's brows  cleared  away  at  these  words ;  but  Roguin  had 
noticed  it  and  took  good  care  not  to  be  the  first  to  speak 
about  the  building  land,  for  he  meant  to  give  his  victim  the 
finishing  stroke. 

"After  a  will  come  marriage-contracts,"  said  Birotteau; 
"  such  is  life.  Ah  !  by-the-by,  Roguin,  old  fellow,  when  do 
we  make  a  match  of  it  with  the  Madeleine,  eh?"  and  he 
tapped  the  other  on  the  chest.  Among  men,  the  best-con- 


70  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

ducted  bourgeois  will  try  to  appear  a  bit  of  a  rogue  with  the 
women. 

"Well,  it  is  to-day  or  never,"  returned  the  notary  with  a 
diplomatic  look.  "We  are  afraid  that  the  affair  will  get 
noised  abroad ;  already  two  of  my  richest  clients  want  to  go 
into  the  speculation,  and  are  very  keen  about  it.  So  you  can 
take  it  or  leave  it.  After  twelve  o'clock  this  morning  I  shall 
draw  up  the  deeds,  and  till  one  o'clock  it  is  open  to  you  to 
join  us  if  you  choose.  Good-by.  Xandrot  made  a  rough 
draft  of  the  documents  for  me  last  night,  and  I  am  about  to 
read  them  through  this  very  minute." 

"All  right,  the  thing  is  settled,  you  have  my  word,"  cried 
Birotteau,  hurrying  after  the  notary,  and  striking  hands  upon 
it.  "  Take  the  hundred  thousand  francs  that  were  to  have 
been  my  daughter's  portion." 

"  Good,"  said  Roguin,  as  he  walked  away. 

In  the  brief  interval  as  Birotteau  returned  to  young  Popinot 
he  felt  a  sensation  of  feverish  heat  run  through  him,  his  dia- 
phragm contracted,  sounds  rang  in  his  ears. 

"What  is  the  matter,  sir?"  asked  the  assistant,  looking  at 
his  employer's  pale  face. 

"  Ah,  my  boy,  I  have  just  concluded  a  big  piece  of  business 
with  a  single  word.  No  one  in  such  a  position  can  help  feel- 
ing some  emotion.  You  know  all  about  it,  however ;  and, 
beside,  I  brought  you  here  so  that  we  could  talk  comfortably 
where  no  one  will  listen  to  us.  Your  aunt  is  pinched  ;  what 
did  she  lose  her  money  in  ?  Tell  me  about  it." 

"  My  uncle  and  aunt  put  their  capital  into  Nucingen's 
bank,  and  were  obliged  to  take  over  shares  in  the  Worstchin 
mines  in  settlement  of  their  claims  ;  no  dividends  have  been 
paid  on  them  as  yet,  and  at  their  time  of  life  it  is  difficult  to 
live  on  hope." 

"  Then  how  do  they  live?  " 

"  They  have  been  so  good  as  to  accept  my  salary." 

"Good,  Anselme,  good,"  said  the  perfumer,  looking  up 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  71 

with  a  tear  in  his  eyes ;  "  you  are  worthy  of  the  attachment  I 
feel  for  you.  And  you  shall  be  well  rewarded  for  your  appli- 
cation in  my  service." 

As  he  spoke,  the  merchant  grew  greater  in  his  own  estima- 
tion as  well  as  in  Popinot's  eyes  ;  a  sense  of  his  adventitious 
superiority  was  artlessly  revealed  in  his  homely  and  paternal 
way  of  speaking. 

"  What  !     Can  you  have  guessed  my  passion  for ?  " 

"  For  whom  ?  "  askeoTthe  perfumer. 

"For  Mademoiselle  Cdsarine." 

"Boy!"  cried  Birotteau,  "you  are  very  bold.  But  keep 
your  secret  carefully ;  I  promise  to  forget  it,  and  you  shall  go 
out  of  the  house  to-morrow.  I  don't  blame  you;  the  devil, 
no !  In  your  place  I  should  have  done  just  the  same.  She 
is  so  pretty." 

"Ah,  sir  !  "  cried  the  assistant,  in  such  a  perspiration  that 
his  shirt  felt  damp. 

"This  cannot  be  settled  in  a  day,  my  boy.  C6sarine  is 
her  own  mistress,  and  her  mother  has  her  ideas.  So  keep 
yourself  to  yourself,  wipe  your  eyes,  hold  your  heart  well  in 
hand,  and  we  will  say  no  more  about  it.  I  should  not  blush 
to  have  you  for  a  son-in-law.  As  the  nephew  of  Monsieur 
Popinot,  judge  of  a  Tribunal  of  First  Instance,  and  as  the 
Ragons'  nephew,  you  have  as  good  a  right  to  make  your  way 
as  another,  but  there  are  ifs  and  buts  and  ands !  What  a 
devil  of  a  notion  you  have  sprung  upon  me  in  the  middle  of 
a  talk  about  business  !  There,  sit  you  down  on  that  bench, 
and  business  first  and  love  affairs  after.  Now,  Popinot,  is 
there  mettle  in  you?"  said  Birotteau,  looking  at  his  assistant. 
"  Do  you  feel  that  you  have  courage  enough  to  wrestle  with 
those  that  are  much  stronger  than  you  ?  for  a  hand-to-hand 
fight,  eh?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  To  keep  up  a  long  and  dangerous  combat ?" 

"What  is  it?" 


72  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  To  drive  Macassar  Oil  from  the  field  !  "  cried  Birotteau, 
drawing  himself  up  like  one  of  Plutarch's  heroes.  "  We  must 
not  undervalue  the  enemy ;  he  is  strong,  well  intrenched,  and 
formidable.  Macassar  Oil  has  been  well  pushed.  It  is  a 
clever  idea,  and  the  shape  of  the  bottles  is  out  of  the  com- 
mon. I  had  thoughts  of  a  triangular  bottle  for  this  plan  of 
mine,  but,  after  mature  reflection,  I  am  inclined  for  little 
blown  glass  flasks  covered  with  wicker  work  ;  they  would  look 
mysterious,  and  the  public  like  anything  that  tickles  their 
curiosity." 

"  It  would  cost  a  good  deal,"  said  Popinot.  "  Everything 
ought  to  be  on  the  cheapest  possible  footing,  so  as  to  allow  a 
heavy  discount  to  the  trade." 

"Right,  my  boy;  those  are  sound  principles  of  business. 
Bear  in  mind  that  Macassar  Oil  will  show  fight !  'Tis  a  spe- 
cious thing ;  the  name  is  attractive.  It  is  put  before  the  public 
as  a  foreign  importation,  and  we,  unluckily,  are  in  our  own 
country.  Look  here,  Popinot,  do  you  feel  strong  enough  to 
do  for  Macassar?  To  begin  with,  you  will  oust  it  from  the 
export  trade ;  it  seems  that  Macassar  really  does  come  from 
the  Indies,  so  it  is  more  natural  to  send  French  goods  to  the 
Indians  than  to  ship  them  back  the  stuff  that  they  are  sup- 
posed to  send  to  us.  So  there's  the  export  trade  for  you ! 
But  it  will  have  to  be  fought  out  abroad,  and  all  over  the 
country ;  and  Macassar  Oil  has  been  so  well  advertised  that 
it  is  no  use  blinking  the  fact  that  it  has  a  hold  ;  it  is  pushed 
everywhere,  and  the  public  is  familiar  with  it." 

"  I  will  do  for  it  !  "  cried  Popinot,  with  eyes  on  fire. 

"And  how?"  returned  Birotteau.  "It  is  like  the  impetu- 
osity of  these  young  people  !  Just  hear  me  out." 

Anselme  looked  like  a  soldier  presenting  arms  to  a  marshal 
of  France. 

"  I  have  invented  an  oil,  Popinot,  an  oil  which  invigorates 
the  scalp,  stimulates  the  growth  of  the  hair,  and  preserves  its 
color — an  oil  for  both  sexes.  The  essence  should  have  no 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  73 

less  success  than  the  Pate  and  the  Lotion,  but  I  do  not  want 
to  exploit  the  secret  by  myself;  I  am  thinking  of  retiring 
from  business.  I  want  you,  my  boy,  to  bring  out  the  Coma- 
gen — from  the  Latin  word  coma,  which  means  hair  (so  Mon- 
sieur Alibert,  physician  to  the  King,  told  me).  In  '  Bere- 
nice,' Racine's  tragedy,  too,  there  is  a  king  of  Comagene,  a 
lover  of  the  beautiful  queen  who  was  so  famous  for  her  hair ; 
no  doubt  it  was  out  of  compliment  to  her  that  he  called  his 
kingdom  Comagene.  How  clever  these  great  men  of  genius 
are  !  they  descend  to  the  smallest  details." 

Little  Popinot  listened  to  these  incongruities,  evidently 
meant  for  his  benefit,  who  had  had  some  education,  and  yet 
kept  his  countenance. 

"Anselme,"  continued  Birotteau,  "I  have  cast  my  eyes  on 
you  as  the  founder  of  a  wholesale  druggist's  business  in  the 
Rue  des  Lombards.  I  will  be  a  sleeping-partner,  and  find 
you  the  capital  to  start  it  with.  When  we  have  begun  with 
the  Comagen,  we  will  try  essence  of  vanilla  and  essence  of 
peppermint.  In  short,  by  degrees  we  will  go  into  the  drug 
trade  and  revolutionize  it,  by  selling  articles  in  a  concentrated 
form  instead  of  the  raw  products.  Are  you  satisfied,  ambi- 
tious young  man?" 

Anselme  was  so  overcome  that  he  could  not  reply,  but  his 
tear-filled  eyes  made  answer  for  him.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
this  offer  was  the  outcome  of  a  fatherly  indulgence  which  took 
this  means  of  saying,  "Deserve  Cesarine  by  earning  wealth 
and  respect." 

"I,  too,  will  succeed,  sir,"  he  said  at  last,  taking  Birot- 
teau's  emotion  for  astonishment. 

"  Just  what  I  was  at  your  age,"  cried  the  perfumer;  "  those 
were  just  the  very  words  I  used !  Whether  you  have  my 
daughter  or  not,  at  any  rate  you  will  have  a  fortune.  Well, 
my  boy,  what  has  come  to  you  ?  " 

"Let  me  hope  that  by  gaining  the  one  I  may  win  the 
other." 


74  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  1  do  not  forbid  you  to  hope,  my  dear  fellow,"  said  Birot- 
teau,  touched  by  Anselme's  tone. 

"  Very  well,  sir ;  may  I  begin  to  look  out  at  once  for  a  store, 
so  as  to  begin  as  soon  as  possible  ?  " 

"Yes,  my  boy.  To-morrow  we  will  shut  ourselves  up  in 
the  factory.  You  might  look  in  at  Livingston's  on  your  way 
to  the  Rue  des  Lombards  and  see  if  my  hydraulic  press  will 
be  in  working  order  by  to-morrow.  To-night,  at  dinner-time, 
we  will  go  to  see  that  great  man,  kind  Monsieur  Vauquelin, 
and  ask  him  about  this.  He  has  been  investigating  the  com- 
position of  hair  quite  lately,  trying  to  find  out  its  coloring 
matter,  and  where  it  comes  from,  and  what  hair  is  made  of. 
It  all  lies  in  that,  Popinot.  You  shall  know  my  secret,  and 
all  that  remains  to  do  is  to  exploit  it  intelligently.  Look  in 
at  Fieri  Berard's  before  you  go  round  to  Livingston.  My 
boy,  Monsieur  Vauquelin's  disinterestedness  is  one  of  the  great 
troubles  of  my  life.  You  cannot  get  him  to  accept  anything. 
Luckily,  I  found  out  from  Chiffreville  that  he  wanted  a 
Madonna  at  Dresden,  engraved  by  one  Miiller,  and,  after  two 
years  of  inquiry  for  it  in  Germany,  Berard  has  found  a  copy 
at  last — a  proof  before  letters  on  India  paper ;  it  cost  fifteen 
hundred  francs,  my  boy.  And  now  to-day  our  benefactor 
shall  see  it  in  the  antechamber  when  he  comes  to  the  door 
with  us ;  framed,  of  course,  you  will  make  sure  of  that.  So  in 
that  way  we  shall  recall  ourselves  to  his  memory,  my  wife  and 
I ;  for,  as  to  gratitude,  we  have  put  his  name  in  our  prayers 
every  day  these  sixteen  years.  For  my  part,  I  shall  never  for- 
get him ;  but,  you  know,  Popinot,  these  men  of  science  are  so 
deep  in  their  work  that  they  forget  everything,  wife  and  chil- 
dren, and  those  they  have  done  a  good  turn  to.  As  for  the 
like  of  us,  our  little  intelligence  permits  us  to  have  warm  hearts 
at  any  rate.  That  is  some  comfort  for  not  being  a  great  man. 
These  gentlemen  at  the  Institute  are  all  brain,  as  you  will  see; 
you  will  never  come  across  one  of  them  in  a  church.  There 
is  Monsieur  Vauquelin,  always  in  his  study  when  he  isn't  in 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  75 

his  laboratory ;  I  like  to  believe  though  that  he  thinks  of  God 
while  he  analyzes  His  works.  This  is  the  understanding :  I 
am  to  find  the  capital,  I  will  put  you  in  possession  of  my 
secret,  and  we  will  divide  the  profits  equally,  so  there  will  be 
no  need  to  draw  up  a  deed.  Good  success  to  us  both  !  We 
will  tune  our  pipes.  Off  with  you,  my  boy ;  I  have  affairs  of 
my  own  to  see  after.  One  moment,  Popinot ;  in  three  weeks' 
time  I  am  going  to  give  a  grand  ball,  have  a  suit  of  clothes 
made,  and  come  to  it  like  a  merchant  already  in  a  good  way 
of  business " 

This  last  piece  of  kindness  touched  Popinot  so  much  that 
he  grasped  Cesar's  large  hand  in  his  and  kissed  it.  The  good 
man's  confidence  had  flattered  the  lover,  and  a  man  in  love 
is  capable  of  anything. 

"Poor  fellow  !  "  said  Birotteau,  as  he  watched  his  assistant 
hurrying  across  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries,  "if  Cesarine 
only  cared  about  him  !  But  he  limps,  his  hair  is  the  color  of 
a  basin,  and  girls  are  such  queer  things  !  I  can  scarcely  be- 
lieve that  Cesarine And  her  mother  would  like  to  see 

her  a  notary's  wife.  Alexandre  Crottat  would  make  her  a  rich 
woman ;  money  makes  anything  endurable,  while  there  is  no 
happiness  that  will  stand  the  test  of  poverty.  After  all,  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  that  my  girl  shall  be  mistress  of  herself,  so 
that  she  stops  short  of  folly." 

Birotteau's  next-door  neighbor,  Cayron  by  name,  was  a 
dealer  in  umbrellas,  sunshades,  and  walking-sticks.  He  came 
from  Languedoc,  his  business  was  not  doing  well,  and  C6sar 
had  helped  him  several  times.  Cayron  asked  nothing  better 
than  to  contract  his  limits  and  to  effect  a  proportionate  saving 
in  house  rent  by  giving  up  two  second-floor  rooms  to  the 
wealthy  perfumer. 

"Well,  neighbor,"  said  Birotteau  familiarly  as  he  entered 
the  umbrella  store,  "my  wife  consents  to  the  enlargement  of 
our  place.  If  you  like,  we  will  go  round  and  see  Monsieur 
Molineux  at  eleven  o'clock." 


76  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"My  dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  returned  he  of  the  um- 
brella store,  "  I  have  never  asked  anything  for  the  concession 
on  my  part,  but  you  know  that  a  good  man  of  business  ought 
to  turn  everything  to  money." 

"  The  deuce  !  "  cried  the  perfumer  ;  "  I  have  no  money  to 
throw  away,  and  I  am  waiting  to  know  if  my  architect  thinks 
the  thing  feasible.  '  Before  you  settle  anything,'  so  he  said, 
'  we  must  know  whether  the  floors  are  on  a  level ;  and  then  we 
must  have  Monsieur  Molineux's  leave  to  make  an  opening  in 
the  wall,  and  is  it  a  party  wall  ? '  And  after  that  I  shall  have 
to  turn  the  staircase  in  my  house,  so  as  to  alter  the  landing 
and  have  the  whole  place  level  from  end  to  end.  There  will 
be  a  lot  of  expense,  and  I  don't  want  to  ruin  myself." 

"Ah,  sir,"  cried  the  Languedocien,  "when  you  are  ruined, 
heaven  and  earth  will  come  together  and  have  a  family." 

Birotteau  stroked  his  chin,  raised  himself  on  tiptoe,  and 
came  down  again. 

"Beside,"  Cayron  went  on,  "I  only  ask  you  to  take  this 

paper  of  me "  and  he  held  out  a  little  statement  for  five 

thousand  francs  and  sixteen  bills. 

"Ah!"  said  the  perfumer,  turning  them  over,  "all  for 
small  amounts,  at  two  months  and  three  months " 

"Take  them  of  me,  and  don't  charge  me  more  than  six 
per  cent.,"  pleaded  the  umbrella  dealer  humbly. 

"Am  I  a  Jew?"  asked  the  perfumer  reproachfully. 

"Goodness,  sir,  I  took  them  to  du  Tillet  that  used  to  be 
your  assistant,  and  he  would  not  have  them  at  any  price; 
he  wanted  to  know  how  much  I  would  consent  to  lose,  no 
doubt." 

"I  know  none  of  these  signatures,"  said  the  perfumer. 

"Well,  we  have  funny  names  in  the  cane  and  umbrella 
trade ;  they  are  hawkers." 

"Well,  well;  I  do  not  say  that  I  will  take  the  lot,  but  I 
might  manage  to  take  all  at  the  shortest  dates." 

"  Don't  leave  me  to  run  after  those  horse-leeches  that  drain 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  77 

us  of  the  best  part  of  the  profits,  for  a  thousand  francs  at  four 
months ;  take  the  lot,  sir  !  I  do  so  little  discounting  that  no 
one  gives  me  credit ;  that  is  the  death  of  us  poor  retailers  in  a 
small  way." 

"Well,  well,  I  will  take  your  little  bills.  Celestin  shall 
settle  it  with  you.  Be  ready  at  eleven.  Here  comes  my 
architect,  Monsieur  Grindot,"  added  the  perfumer,  as  he  saw 
the  young  man  whom  he  had  met  by  appointment  at  Monsieur 
de  la  Billardiere's  house  on  the  previous  evening.  "  Unlike 
most  men  of  talent,  you  are  punctual,  sir,"  said  Cesar,  in  his 
most  genteel  manner. 

"  If  punctuality — in  the  phrase  of  a  king  who  was  a  clever 
man  as  well  as  a  great  statesman — is  the  courtesy  of  kings,  it 
is  no  less  the  fortune  of  architects.  Time — time  is  money; 
most  of  all  for  your  artists.  Architecture  combines  all  the 
other  arts,  I  permit  myself  to  say.  We  will  not  go  through 
the  store,"  he  added,  as  he  showed  the  way  to  the  sham  car- 
riage entrance. 

Four  years  ago  M.  Grindot  had  taken  the  Grand  Prize 
for  architecture  ;  and  now  he  had  just  returned  from  a  three 
years'  sojourn  in  Rome  at  the  expense  of  the  State.  While  he 
was  in  Italy  the  young  artist  had  thought  of  his  art ;  in  Paris 
he  turned  his  attention  to  money-making.  Governments 
alone  can  give  the  necessary  millions  to  erect  public  buildings 
and  monuments  to  an  architect's  enduring  fame  ;  and  it  is 
so  natural,  when  fresh  from  Rome,  to  take  one's  self  for  a 
Fontaine  or  a  Percier,  that  every  ambitious  young  architect 
has  a  leaning  toward  ministerialism  ;  so  the  subsidized  Liberal, 
metamorphosed  into  a  Royalist,  sought  to  find  patrons  in 
power ;  and  when  a  Grand  Prize  conducts  himself  after  this 
fashion,  his  comrades  call  him  a  sycophant. 

Two  courses  lay  open  to  the  youthful  architect — he  might 
serve  the  perfumer  or  make  as  much  as  he  could  out  of  him. 
But  Birotteau  the  deputy-mayor  ;  Birotteau,  the  future  pos- 
sessor of  half  of  that  building  estate  near  the  Madeleine, 


78  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

where  a  quarter  full  of  handsome  houses  was  sure  to  be  built 
sooner  or  later,  was  a  man  worth  humoring,  so  Grindot  sacri- 
ficed present  gain  to  future  opportunities.  Patiently  he  lis- 
tened to  the  plans,  ideas,  and  vain  repetitions  of  this  store- 
keeping  Philistine,  the  artist's  butt  and  laughing-stock,  and 
the  particular  object  of  his  scorn,  and  followed  the  perfumer 
about  his  house,  bowing  respectfully  to  his  ideas.  When 
Birotteau  had  said  all  that  he  had  to  say,  the  young  architect 
tried  to  give  a  summary  of  his  own  views. 

"You  have  three  windows  looking  out  upon  the  street  in 
your  own  house,"  he  said,  "as  well  as  the  window  that  is 
wasted  on  the  stairs  and  required  for  the  landing.  To  these 
four  windows  you  add  two  on  the  same  floor  in  the  next  house, 
by  turning  the  staircase  so  that  you  can  walk  on  level  from 
one  end  to  the  other  on  the  side  nearest  the  street." 

"You  have  understood  me  exactly,"  said  the  amazed  per- 
fumer. 

"To  carry  out  your  plan,  we  shall  have  to  light  the  new 
staircase  from  above,  and  contrive  a  porter's  lodge  in  the 
plinth." 

"Plinth?" 

"Yes  ;  the  part  of  the  wall  under  the " 

"I  see,  sir." 

"As  to  your  rooms,  and  their  arrangements  and  decora- 
tion, give  me  carte-blanche.  I  should  like  to  make  them 
worthy " 

"  Worthy  !     You  have  said  the  very  word,  sir." 

"  How  long  can  you  give  me  to  carry  out  this  scheme  of 
decoration  ?  " 

"Twenty  days." 

"What  are  you  prepared  to  put  down  for  the  workmen  ?  " 

"  Well,  what  are  the  repairs  likely  to  mount  up  to  ?  " 

"An  architect  can  estimate  the  cost  of  a  new  building  al- 
most to  a  centime,"  said  the  other  ;  "  but  as  I  have  not  under- 
taken a  bourgeois  job  as  yet  (pardon  me,  sir,  the  word  slipped 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  79 

out),  I  ought  to  tell  you  beforehand  that  it  is  impossible  for 
me  to  give  estimates  for  alterations  and  repairs.  In  a  week's 
time  I  might  be  able  to  make  a  rough  guess.  Put  your  confi- 
dence in  me;  you  shall  have  a  charming  staircase  lighted 
from  above,  and  a  pretty  vestibule,  and  in  the  plinth " 

"  The  plinth  again  !  " 

"  Do  not  be  anxious.  I  will  find  room  for  a  little  porter's 
lodge.  The  alteration  and  decoration  of  your  rooms  will  be 
a  labor  of  love.  Yes,  sir,  I  am  thinking  of  art  and  not  of 
making  money.  Above  all  things,  if  I  am  to  succeed,  I  must 
be  talked  about,  must  I  not?  So,  in  my  opinion,  the  best 
way  is  not  to  haggle  with  tradesmen,  but  to  obtain  a  good 
effect  cheaply." 

"  With  such  ideas,  young  man,"  Birotteau  said  patroniz- 
ingly, "  you  will  succeed." 

"  So  you  will  yourself  arrange  with  the  bricklayers, 
painters,  locksmiths,  carpenters,  and  cabinet-makers;  and  I, 
for  my  part,  undertake  to  check  their  accounts.  You  will 
simply  agree  to  pay  me  a  fee  of  two  thousand  francs;  it  will 
be  money  well  laid  out.  Put  the  whole  place  into  my  hands 
by  twelve  o'clock  to-morrow  and  tell  me  whom  you  mean  to 
employ." 

"  What  is  it  likely  to  cost  at  first  sight  ?  "  asked  the  elated 
Birotteau. 

"Ten  to  twelve  thousand  francs,"  said  Grindot,  "without 
counting  the  furniture ;  for,  of  course,  you  will  refurnish  the 
rooms.  Will  you  give  me  the  address  of  your  carpet  manu- 
facturer ?  I  ought  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  him 
about  the  colors,  so  as  to  have  a  harmonious  unity." 

"Monsieur  Braschon  in  the  Rue  Saint-Antoine  has  my 
order,"  said  the  perfumer,  assuming  a  ducal  air. 

The  architect  made  a  note  of  the  address  on  one  of  those 
little  tablets  which  are  unmistakably  a  pretty  woman's  gift. 

"Well,"  said  Birotteau,  "  I  leave  it  all  to  you,  sir.  Still, 
wait  until  I  have  arranged  to  take  over  the  lease  of  the  two 


80  CXSAti   BIROTTEAU. 

rooms  next  door,  and  obtained  permission  to  make  an  open- 
ing through  the  wall." 

"Send  me  a  note  this  evening,"  said  the  architect.  "I 
must  spend  the  night  in  drawing  plans.  We  architects  would 
rather  work  for  a  city  merchant  than  for  the  King  of  Prussia ; 
that  is  to  say,  as  far  as  our  own  taste  is  concerned.  In  any 
case,  I  will  set  about  taking  measurements,  the  height  of  the 
rooms,  the  dimensions  of  the  door  and  window  embrasures, 
and  the  size  of  the  windows." 

"  It  must  be  finished  by  the  date  I  have  given,  or  it  is  no 
good." 

"It  certainly  must,"  returned  the  architect.  "The  men 
shall  work  day  and  night,  and  we  will  employ  processes  for 
drying  the  paint ;  but  do  not  let  builders  swindle  you,  make 
them  quote  beforehand,  and  have  the  agreement  in  writing." 

"  Paris  is  the  only  place  in  the  world  where  one  can  make 
such  strokes  of  the  wand,"  said  Birotteau,  indulging  in  a 
flourish  worthy  of  some  Asiatic  potentate  in  the  "  Arabian 
Nights."  "Do  me  the  honor  of  coming  to  my  ball,  sir. 
All  men  of  talent  do  not  feel  the  contempt  for  trade  which 
some  heap  upon  it ;  and  I  expect  you  will  meet  one  scientific 
man  of  the  highest  rank — Monsieur  Vauquelin  of  the  Institute  ! 
— beside  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere,  Messieurs  le  Comte  3e 
Fontaine,  Lebas,  a  judge,  and  president  of  the  Tribunal  of 
Commerce;  and  several  magistrates,  le  Comte  de  Granville 
of  the  Court  Royal,  and  Popinot  of  the  Court  of  First  In- 
stance, Camusot  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  and  his  father- 
in-law  Cardot.  Perhaps,  even  le  Due  de  Lenoncourt,  First 
Gentleman  of  the  Bedchamber.  It  is  a  gathering  of  my 
friends,  quite  as  much  in  honor  of — er — the  liberation  of  the 
soil — as  to  celebrate  my — promotion  to  the  order  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor." 

Grindot's  gesture  was  peculiar. 

"  Possibly — I  have  deserved  this — signal  mark  of  royal — 
.favor  by  the  discharge  of  my  functions  at  the  Consular  Tribu- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  81 

nal,  and  by  fighting  for  the  Bourbons  on  the  steps  of  Saint- 
Roch's  church  on  the  i3th  Venddmiaire,  when  I  was  wounded 
by  Napoleon.  These  claims  to " 

Constance,  in  morning  dress,  came  out  of  Cesarine's  bed- 
room, where  she  had  been  dressing ;  her  first  glance  stopped 
her  husband's  fervid  eloquence ;  he  cast  about  for  some  every- 
day phrase  which  should  modestly  convey  the  tidings  of  the 
glory  awaiting  him  on  the  morrow. 

"  Here,  pet,  this  is  M.  de  Grindot,  a  distinguished  young 
man  of  great  talent.  This  gentleman  is  the  architect  whom 
Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere  recommended  ;  he  will  superintend 
our  little  alterations  here." 

The  perfumer  placed  himself  so  that  his  wife  could  not  see 
him,  and  put  his  finger  on  his  lips  as  he  uttered  the  word 
little.  The  architect  understood. 

"Constance,  this  gentleman  will  take  the  dimensions  of 
the  rooms.  Let  him  do  it,  dear,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he 
whisked  out  into  the  street. 

"Will  it  cost  a  great  deal?"  Constance  asked  the  archi- 
tect. 

"  No,  madame ;  six  thousand  francs,  roughly  speaking " 

"  Roughly  speaking  !  "  cried  Mme.  Birotteau.  "  Sir,  I 
beg  of  you  not  to  begin  without  an  estimate,  and  to  do  noth- 
ing until  a  contract  has  been  signed.  I  know  the  way  of 
those  gentlemen  the  builders — six  thousand  means  twenty 
thousand.  We  are  not  in  a  position  to  squander  money.  I 
beg  of  you,  sir,  although  my  husband  is  certainly  master  in 
his  own  house,  to  leave  him  time  to  think  this  over." 

"  Monsieur  told  me,  madame,  that  he  must  have  the  rooms 
finished  in  twenty  days ;  if  we  make  a  delay,  you  may  incur 
the  expense  without  obtaining  the  result." 

"  There  is  expense  and  expense,"  said  the  fair  mistress  of 
the  Queen  of  Roses. 

"  Eh  !  madame ;  is  it  so  very  glorious,  do  you  think,  for 
an  architect  who  would  like  to  erect  public  monuments  to 
6 


82  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

superintend  alterations  in  a  private  house  ?  I  only  undertook 
the  little  commission  to  oblige  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere, 
and  if  you  are  alarmed " 

He  made  as  if  he  would  withdraw. 

"Well,  well,  sir,"  said  Constance,  going  back  to  her  room. 
Once  there,  she  hid  her  head  on  her  daughter's  shoulder. 
"My  child,"  she  cried,  "your  father  is  ruining  himself! 
He  has  engaged  an  architect  who  wears  mustaches  and  an 
imperial  on  his  chin,  and  talks  about  erecting  public  monu- 
ments !  He  will  fling  the  house  out  of  the  windows  to  build 
us  a  Louvre.  Cesar  is  always  in  a  hurry  when  there  is  any- 
thing crazy  to  be  done ;  he  only  told  me  about  the  plan  last 
night,  and  he  is  setting  about  it  this  morning." 

"  Bah  !  mamma,  never  mind  papa  ;  Providence  has  always 
taken  care  of  you,"  said  C6sarine,  putting  her  arms  about  her 
mother.  Then  she  (the  demoiselle)  went  to  the  piano,  to 
show  the  architect  that  a  perfumer's  daughter  was  no  stranger 
to  the  fine  arts. 

When  the  architect  came  into  the  room,  he  was  surprised 
by  Cesarine's  beauty,  and  stood  almost  dum founded.  For 
the  artist  saw  before  him  Cesarine  just  come  from  her  little 
room,  in  her  loose  morning-gown,  bright  and  blooming  with 
the  freshness  and  the  bloom  of  eighteen  years,  blue-eyed, 
and  slender,  and  fair-haired.  Youth  gave  the  elasticity  (so 
rare  in  Paris)  which  lends  firmness  to  the  most  delicate  tissues; 
youth  tinted  the  blue  network  of  veins  throbbing  beneath  the 
transparent  skin  with  the  color  adored  by  painters.  For 
though  she  lived  in  the  relaxing  atmosphere  of  a  Parisian 
store,  where  the  fresh  air  can  scarcely  penetrate  and  the  sun- 
light seldom  comes,  the  outdoor  life  of  Roman  Trasteverine 
could  not  have  been  a  more  successful  beautifier  than  Cesar- 
ine's manner  of  living.  Her  thick  hair  grew  erect  like  her 
father's,  and,  being  dressed  high,  afforded  a  view  of  a  well-set 
neck  among  a  shower  of  curls — the  elaborate  coiffure  of  the 
damsels  of  the  counter,  in  whom  a  desire  to  shine  inspires  a 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  83 

more  than  English  attention  to  trifling  details  in  matters  of 
the  toilet. 

Cesarine's  beauty  was  neither  that  of  an  English  court  lady 
nor  of  a  French  duchess,  but  the  plump  and  auburn-haired 
comeliness  of  Rubens'  Flemish  women.  She  had  inherited 
her  father's  turned-up  nose,  but  its  delicacy  of  outline  gave  a 
sprightly  charm  to  a  face  of  the  essentially  French  type  so 
well  rendered  by  Largilliere.  The  rich  silken  tissue  of  the 
skin  indicated  the  abundant  vitality  of  girlhood.  Her  mother's 
broad  brow  was  lightened  by  a  girlish  serenity,  untroubled  by 
care,  and  there  was  a  tender  grace  in  the  expression  of  the 
blue  liquid  eyes  of  the  happy-hearted,  fair-haired  maid.  If 
happiness  had  taken  from  her  face  the  romantic  interest  which 
painters  inevitably  give  to  their  compositions  by  an  expres- 
sion somewhat  too  pensive,  the  vague,  wistful  instincts  of  the 
young  girl  who  has  never  left  her  mother's  wing  made  an 
approach  to  this  ideal.  With  all  her  apparent  slenderness, 
she  was  strongly  made.  Her  feet  indicated  her  father's  peas- 
ant origin,  a  racial  defect,  like  the  redness  of  her  hands — the 
sign-manual  of  a  purely  bourgeois  descent.  Sooner  or  later 
she  was  sure  to  grow  stout.  Occasionally  young  and  fashion- 
able women  had  come  within  her  ken  ;  and  in  course  of  time 
she  had  acquired  from  them  the  instinct  of  dress,  certain  ways 
of  carrying  her  head,  and  manners  of  speaking  and  moving, 
thus  copied,  which  turned  the  heads  of  the  assistants  and 
other  young  men  ;  in  their  eyes  she  seemed  to  have  a  distin- 
guished air. 

Popinot  had  vowed  to  himself  that  no  woman  but  Cesarine 
should  be  his  wife.  This  mobile  blonde,  whom  a  glance 
seemed  to  read,  who  seemed  ready  to  melt  into  tears  at  a  harsh 
word,  was  the  one  woman  in  whose  presence  he  could  feel 
conscious  of  masculine  superiority.  This  charming  girl  in- 
spired love,  without  leaving  time  to  consider  whether  or  not 
she  had  sufficient  soul  to  insure  that  the  love  should  be  last- 
ing ;  but  what  need  is  there  for  what  we  in  Paris  call  esprit,  in  a 


84  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

class  where  the  essential  elements  of  happiness  are  good-sense 
and  virtue  ? 

In  character,  C^sarine  was  a  second  edition  of  her  mother, 
slightly  improved  by  an  education  which  had  taught  her 
superfluous  accomplishments.  She  was  fond  of  music,  and 
had  made  a  crayon  drawing  of  the  "  Madonna  of  the  Chair; " 
she  perused  the  works  of  Mesdames  Cottin  and  Riccoboni, 
and  the  writings  of  Fenelon,  Racine,  and  Bernardin  de  Saint- 
Pierre.  She  never  appeared  at  her  mother's  side  at  the  cash 
desk  save  for  a  few  moments  before  dinner,  or  when,  on  rare 
occasions,  she  took  her  place.  Her  father  and  mother,  like 
all  self-made  people,  who  hasten  to  plant  the  seeds  of  ingrat- 
itude in  their  children  by  putting  the  younger  generation  on  a 
higher  level,  delighted  to  make  an  idol  of  Cesarine,  who, 
happily,  possessed  the  good  qualities  of  her  class  and  did  not 
take  advantage  of  their  weakness. 

Mme.  Birotteau  followed  the  architect's  movements  with 
earnest,  anxious  eyes;  looking  on  in  consternation,  calling 
her  daughter's  attention  to  the  strange  gyrations  of  the  foot- 
rule,  as  Grindot  took  his  measurements  after  the  manner  of 
architects  and  builders.  For  her,  each  one  of  those  strokes 
of  the  wand  seemed  to  lay  the  place  under  an  evil  enchant- 
ment and  boded  ill  to  the  house ;  she  would  fain  have  had 
the  walls  less  lofty  and  the  rooms  smaller,  and  dared  not  put 
any  questions  to  the  young  man  as  to  the  results  of  this 
sorcery. 

"Be  easy,  madame,"  he  said,  with  a  smile;  "I  shall  not 
carry  anything  away. ' ' 

Cesarine  could  not  help  laughing. 

"Sir,"  pleaded  Constance,  who  did  not  so  much  as  notice 
the  architect's  quip,  "  aim  at  economy;  some  day  we  may  be 
able  to  make  you  a  return ' ' 

Before  Cesar  went  to  M.  Molineux,  the  landlord  of  the 
next  house,  he  asked  Roguin  for  the  transfer  of  the  lease 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  85 

which  Alexandra  Crottat  was  to  have  drawn  up.  As  he  came 
away  from  the  notary's  house,  he  saw  du  Tillet  at  Roguin's 
study  window.  Although  the  liaison  between  his  sometime 
assistant  and  Mme.  Roguin  was  a  sufficient  explanation  of  du 
Tillet's  presence  in  the  house  at  a  time  when  the  negotiations 
for  the  building  land  were  impending,  Birotteau,  trustful 
though  he  was,  felt  uncomfortable.  Du  Tillet's  animated 
face  suggested  that  a  discussion  was  going  on. 

"Suppose  that  he  should  be  in  the  business !"  he  asked 
himself,  in  an  access  of  his  commercial  prudence. 

The  suspicion  flashed  like  lightning  across  his  mind. 
He  turned  again  and  saw  Mme.  Roguin  at  the  window ; 
and  then  the  banker's  presence  no  longer  looked  so  suspi- 
cious. 

"Still,  how  if  Constance  was  right?"  he  asked  himself. 
"  How  stupid  I  am  to  pay  any  attention  to  a  woman's  no- 
tions !  However,  I  will  talk  it  over  this  morning  with  our 
uncle.  It  is  only  a  step  from  the  Cour  Batave,  where  Moli- 
neux  lives,  to  the  Rue  des  Bourdonnais." 

A  suspicious  onlooker,  a  man  of  business  with  some  experi- 
ence of  rogues,  would  have  been  warned;  but  Birotteau's 
previous  career,  together  with  his  lack  of  mental  grasp  (for  he 
was  but  little  fitted  for  retracing  a  chain  of  inductions,  a  pro- 
cess by  which  an  able  man  arrives  at  a  cause),  all  led  to  his 
ruin.  He  found  the  umbrella  dealer  dressed  in  his  best,  and 
was  starting  away  with  him  to  the  landlord,  when  Virginie, 
the  servant,  caught  her  master  by  the  arm. 

"  The  mistress  hopes  you  will  not  go  out  again,  sir " 

"Come!"  cried  Birotteau;  "some  more  women's  no- 
tions! " 

"Without  taking  your  cup  of  coffee.     It  is  ready  for  you." 

"  Oh  !  all  right.  I  have  so  many  things  in  my  head, 
neighbor,"  said  Birotteau,  turning  to  Cayron,  "  that  I  do  not 
listen  to  my  stomach.  Be  so  good  as  to  walk  on  ;  we  shall 
meet  each  other  at  Monsieur  Molineux's  door,  unless  you  go 


86  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

up  and  explain  the  matter  to  him  first.  We  should  save  time 
that  way." 

M.  Molineux  was  an  eccentric  person  of  independent  means, 
a  specimen  of  a  kind  of  humanity  which  you  will  no  more  find 
out  of  Paris  than  you  will  find  Iceland  moss  growing  anywhere 
out  of  Iceland.  The  comparison  is  but  so  much  the  more  apt, 
for  that  the  man  in  question  belonged  to  that  doubtful  border- 
land between  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  which  awaits 
the  Mercier,  who  shall  classify  the  various  cryplogamia  which 
strike  root,  thrive,  or  die  among  the  plaster  walls  of  the 
strange  unwholesome  old  houses  affected  by  the  species. 

This  particular  human  plant  was  an  umbellifer,  to  judge  by 
the  blue  tubular  cap  which  crowned  a  stem  sheathed  in  a  pair 
of  greenish-colored  breeches,  and  terminated  by  bulbous  roots 
enveloped  in  list  slippers.  At  first  sight  the  plant  seems 
harmless  and  colorless  enough ;  there  is  certainly  nothing  to 
suggest  poison  in  its  appearance.  In  this  strange  freak  of 
nature  you  would  have  recognized  the  typical  shareholder, 
who  believes  in  all  the  news  which  the  daily  press  baptizes 
with  printer's  ink,  whose  "Look  at  the  paper"  is  a  final  ap- 
peal to  authority ;  this  (you  would  have  thought)  was  the 
bourgeois,  essentially  a  lover  of  order,  always  (in  theory)  in 
rebellion  against  the  powers  that  be,  to  whom  in  practice  he 
punctually  yields  obedience ;  a  ferocious  creature,  take  him 
singly,  who  grows  tame  in  a  crowd  of  his  like.  The  man 
who  is  obdurate  as  a  bailiff  where  his  dues  are  concerned, 
gives  fresh  groundsel  to  his  birds,  and  saves  the  fish-bones  for 
the  cat ;  he  looks  up  in  the  middle  of  making  out  a  receipt  to 
whistle  to  the  canary ;  he  is  suspicious  as  a  turnkey,  but  will 
hurry  to  invest  his  money  in  some  doubtful  undertaking,  and 
then  try  to  recover  his  losses  by  the  most  sordid  meanness. 
The  noxious  qualities  of  this  hybrid  growth  are  only  discov- 
ered by  use ;  its  nauseous  bitterness  requires  the  coction  of 
some  piece  of  business  wherein  its  interests  are  mingled  with 
those  of  men. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  87 

Like  all  Parisians,  Molineux  felt  a  need  to  make  his  power 
felt.  He  craved  that  particular  privilege  of  a  sovereignty 
more  or  less  exercised  by  every  creature,  down  to  the  very 
porter,  over  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of  victims — a  woman, 
a  child,  a  clerk,  or  lodger,  a  horse,  a  dog,  or  monkey — that 
part  of  domination  which  consists  in  handing  on  to  another 
the  mortifications  received  by  an  aspirant  to  higher  spheres. 
The  tiresome  little  old  person  in  question,  having  neither 
wife,  nor  child,  nor  niece,  nor  nephew,  treated  his  charwoman 
so  harshly  that  she  gave  him  no  opportunity  of  venting  his 
spleen  upon  her,  and  avoided  all  collision  with  him  by  a 
rigorous  discharge  of  her  duties. 

So  his  appetite  for  domestic  tyranny  being  thus  balked,  he 
was  fain  to  find  other  ways  of  satisfying  it.  He  had  made  a 
patient  study  of  the  law  of  landlord  and  tenant  and  of  the  legal 
aspects  of  the  party-wall ;  he  had  fathomed  the  mysteries 
of  jurisprudence  with  regard  to  house-property  in  Paris,  and 
was  learned  in  its  infinitely  minute  intricacies  with  regard  to 
boundaries  and  abutments,  easements,  rates,  charges,  regula- 
tions for  the  cleansing  of  the  street,  hangings  for  Fete-Dieu 
processions,  waste-pipes,  lights,  projections  over  the  public 
way,  and  the  near  proximity  of  insanitary  dwellings.  All  his 
mental  and  physical  energies,  all  his  intelligence,  was  de- 
voted to  maintaining  his  authority  as  a  landlord  with  a  high 
hand  ;  he  had  made  a  hobby  of  his  occupation,  and  the  hobby 
was  becoming  a  mania. 

He  loved  to  protect  citizens  against  encroachments  on  their 
rights,  but  opportunities  occurred  so  seldom  that  his  thwarted 
passion  expended  itself  upon  his  tenants.  A  tenant  became 
his  enemy,  his  inferior,  his  subject,  his  vassal.  He  felt  that 
their  homage  was  a  due,  and  regarded  those  who  passed  him 
without  a  salutation  on  the  stairs  as  boors.  He  made  out  his 
receipts  himself,  and  sent  them  at  noon  on  the  quarter-day ; 
and  those  who  were  behindhand  received  a  summons  by  a 
certain  hour.  Then  followed  a  distraint  and  costs,  and  all 


88  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

the  cavalry  of  the  law  came  into  the  field  with  the  celerity  of 
"the  machine,"  as  the  headsman  calls  his  instrument  of  ex- 
ecution. Molineux  gave  no  grace  and  no  delay ;  his  heart 
was  indurated  on  the  side  of  rents. 

"  I  will  lend  you  the  money  if  you  want  it,"  he  would  say 
to  a  solvent  tenant,  "  but  pay  me  my  rent  ;  any  getting  be- 
hindhand with  the  rent  means  a  loss  of  interest  for  which  the 
law  provides  no  remedy." 

After  a  prolonged  study  of  the  skittish  humors  of  successive 
tenants  who  conformed  to  no  standard,  and,  like  successive 
dynasties,  nor  more  nor  less,  invariably  overturned  the  insti- 
tutions of  their  predecessors,  Molineux  had   promulgated  a 
charter  which  he  observed  religiously.     By  virtue  of  it  the 
good   man   never  did   any   repairs;    none  of  his   chimneys 
smoked,  his  staircases  were  always  in  order,  his  ceilings  white, 
his  cornices  above  reproach,  his  floors  held  securely  to  the 
joists,  and  there  was  no  fault  to  find  with  the  paint.     All  the 
locks  had  been  put  in  within  the  last  three  years,  every  win- 
dow-pane was  whole,  and  as  for  cracks  in  the  walls  they  did 
not  exist;  he  could  see  no  broken  tiles  in  the  floors  till  the 
tenants  were  leaving  the  house.     He  usually  appeared  upon 
the  scene  to  receive  the  incoming  tenants  with  a  locksmith 
and  a  painter  and  glazier,  very  handy  fellows,  he  said.     The 
tenant  was  doubtless  at  liberty  to  make  improvements;  but  if 
the  thriftless  creature  redecorated  his  rooms,  old  Molineux  set 
his  wits  to  work   and  pondered  night  and  day  how  to  dis- 
lodge him  and  let  the  newly  papered  and  painted  abode  to 
another  comer.     He  set  his  snares,  bided  his  time,  and  began 
the  whole  series  of  his  unhallowed  devices.     There  was  no 
subtlety  in  the  regulations  of  Paris  with  regard  to  leases  that 
he  did  not  know.     He  indited  polite  and  amiable  communi- 
cations to  his  victims ;  but  beneath  the  manner,  as  beneath  the 
harmless  and  obliging  expression  of  the  pettifogging  scribbler 
himself,  lurked  the  spirit  of  a  Shylock. 

He  must  always  be  paid  six  months  in  advance,  to  be  de- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  89 

ducted  from  the  last  half-year's  rent,  subject  to  a  host  of 
thorny  conditions  of  his  own  invention.  He  assured  himself 
that  the  value  of  the  tenant's  furniture  was  sufficient  to  cover 
the  rent,  and  reconnoitred  every  new  tenant  like  a  detective 
when  he  came  in.  There  were  some  occupations  which  he 
did  not  like,  and  the  least  sound  of  a  hammer  frightened  him. 
When  the  time  came  for  handing  over  a  lease,  he  kept  it  back 
for  a  week,  conning  it  over  for  fear  it  should  contain  what  he 
denominated  "  notary's  et  ceteras." 

Apart  from  his  character  of  landlord,  Jean-Baptiste  Moli- 
neux  was  apparently  good-natured  and  obliging.     He  could 
play  a  game  of  boston   without  complaining  of  being  badly 
seconded  by  his  partner ;  his  stock  subjects  for  conversation 
were  of  the  ordinary  bourgeois  kind,  and  he  found  the  same 
things  laughable — the  arbitrary  acts  of  bakers  (the  rascals), 
who  give  short  weights,  which  are  winked  at  by  the  police, 
the  heroic  seventeen  deputies  of  the  Left.     He  read  the  Cure" 
Meslier's   "Bon  Sens"   (Free  Thinker),  yet  went  to   mass, 
halting  between   Deism  and  Christianity ;  but  he  subscribed 
nothing  for  sacramental  bread,  under  the  plea  that  you  must 
resist  the  encroachments  of   the  priesthood.     The  indefati- 
gable redresser  of  grievances  would  write  to  this  effect  to  the 
newspapers,  though  the  newspapers  neither  inserted  his  letters 
nor  replied  to  them.     Molineux  was,  in  short,  in  many  re- 
spects the  ordinary  estimable  citizen  who  burns  a  yule-log  at 
Christmas,  draws  for  king  on  Twelfth  Night,  plays  tricks  on 
the  First  of  April,  makes  the  rounds  of  the  boulevards  when 
the  weather  is  fine,  goes  to  watch  the  skating ;  and  on  days 
when  there  are  to  be  fireworks  in  the  Place  Louis  XV.  will 
take  his  place  there  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  with  a 
piece  of  bread  in  his  pocket,  so  as  to  be  "in  the  front  row." 
The  Cour  Batave,  where  the  little  old  man  lived,  is  a  result 
of  one  of  those  freaks  of  the  speculative  builder  which  cannot 
be  explained  after  they  have  taken  substantial  form.     It  is  a 
cloister-like  building  with  its  freestone  arcading,  its  covered 


90  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

galleries  surrounding  the  court  with  a  fountain  in  the  middle 
— a  thirsty  fountain  with  its  lion  jaws  agape,  not  to  supply, 
but  to  ask  for  water  of  every  passer-by.  Possibly  it  was  in- 
tended for  a  sort  of  Palais-Royal  to  adorn  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Denis.  There  is  a  little  light  and  stir  of  life  during  the  day 
in  the  unwholesome  pile  shut  in  on  all  four  sides  by  tall 
houses;  it  lies  in  the  centre  of  a  labyrinth  of  dank  alleys, 
where  the  rheumatism  lurks  for  the  hurrying  foot-passenger,  a 
maze  of  dark,  narrow  passages  which  converge  here  and  con- 
nect the  Quartier  des  Halles  and  the  Quartier  Saint-Martin 
by  the  famous  Rue  Quincampoix ;  but  at  night  there  is  no 
spot  in  Paris  more  deserted,  and  these  little  slums  might  be 
called  the  catacombs  of  commerce.  It  is  the  sink  of  several 
industries;  and  if  there  are  few  natives  of  Batavia  proper, 
there  are  plenty  of  small  tradesmen. 

Naturally,  all  the  suites  of  rooms  in  this  merchant's  palace 
have  but  one  outlook — into  the  central  courtyard — and  for 
this  and  other  reasons  the  rents  asked  are  of  the  lowest.  M. 
Molineux  inhabited  one  of  the  angles  of  the  building.  Con- 
siderations of  health  had  prompted  the  choice  of  a  sixth-floor 
lodging;  for  fresh  air  was  only  to  be  had  at  a  height  of 
seventy  feet  from  the  ground.  From  the  leads,  where  the 
worthy  owner  of  house-property  was  wont  to  take  exercise,  he 
enjoyed  a  charming  view  of  the  windmills  of  Montmartre. 
He  grew  flowers  up  there,  too,  in  defiance  of  police  regula- 
tions against  these  hanging-gardens  of  the  modern  Babylon. 
His  sixth-floor  establishment  consisted  of  four  rooms,  without 
counting  the  water-closets  on  the  floor  above,  a  valuable  prop- 
erty to  which  his  claim  was  incontestable ;  he  had  the  key,  he 
had  established  them.  On  a  first  entrance,  an  indecent  bare- 
ness at  once  revealed  the  miserly  nature  of  the  man.  Half-a- 
dozen  straw-bottomed  chairs  stood  in  the  lobby ;  there  was  a 
glazed  earthenware  stove  ;  and  on  the  walls,  covered  with  a 
bottle-green  paper,  hung  four  prints  bought  at  sales.  In  the 
dining-room  you  beheld  a  couple  of  sideboards,  two  cages  full 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  91 

of  birds,  a  table  covered  with  oilcloth,  a  weather-glass,  mahog- 
any chairs  with  horsehair  cushions,  and  through  a  French 
window  a  view  of  the  aforesaid  hanging-gardens.  Short, 
antiquated,  green  silk  curtains  adorned  the  sitting-room,  and 
the  white-painted  wooden  furniture  was  upholstered  in  green 
Utrecht  velvet.  As  for  the  furniture  of  the  old  bachelor's 
room,  it  was  of  the  period  of  Louis  XV.;  disfigured  by  pro- 
longed wear,  and  so  dirty  that  a  woman  in  a  white  gown 
would  have  shrunk  from  contact  with  it.  The  mantel  boasted 
a  clock  ;  the  dial,  between  two  columns,  served  as  a  pediment 
beneath  a  statuette  of  Pallas  brandishing  a  lance — a  fabulous 
personage  of  antiquity.  The  tiled  floor  was  so  littered  over 
with  plates  full  of  scraps  for  the  cats  that  it  was  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  move  about  without  setting  a  foot  in  one  of  them. 
Above  the  rosewood  chest  of  drawers  hung  a  pastel — Moli- 
neux  in  his  youth.  Add  a  few  books,  tables  covered  with 
shabby,  green  cardboard  boxes,  a  case  full  of  the  stuffed  forms 
of  some  departed  canaries  on  a  console  table,  and,  to  com- 
plete the  list,  a  bed  so  chilly-looking  that  it  might  have  been 
a  rebuke  to  a  Carmelite. 

C6sar  Birotteau  was  charmed  with  Molineux's  exquisite 
politeness.  He  found  the  latter  in  his  gray  flannel  dressing- 
gown,  keeping  an  eye  on  the  milk  set  on  a  little  cast-iron 
plate  warmer,  in  a  corner  of  the  hearth,  while  he  poured  the 
contents  of  a  brown  earthen  pipkin,  in  which  he  had  been 
boiling  coffee-grounds,  into  his  coffee-pot  by  spoonfuls  at  a 
time.  The  umbrella  dealer  had  opened  the  door,  lest  his 
landlord  should  be  disturbed  in  this  occupation ;  but  Moli- 
neux,  holding  mayors  and  deputy-mayors  ("  our  municipal 
officers,"  as  he  called  them)  in  great  veneration,  rose  at  first 
sight  of  the  magistrate,  and  stood  cap  in  hand  until  the  great 
Birotteau  should  be  seated. 

"  No,  sir Yes,  sir Ah,  sir,  if  I  had  known  that  I 

was  to  have  the  honor  of  housing  a  member  of  the  municipal 
government  of  Paris  amid  my  humble  Penates,  pray  believe 


92  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

that  I  should  have  made  it  my  business  to  repair  to  your 
house ;  although  I  am  your  landlord,  or — on  the  point — of — 
being " 

Here  Birotteau  by  a  gesture  entreated  him  to  put  on  his 
cap. 

"I  shall  do  nothing  of  the  kind;  I  shall  remain  bare- 
headed until  you  are  seated,  and  have  put  on  your  hat  if  you 
have  a  cold.  My  room  is  rather  chilly ;  my  narrow  means 
do  not  permit — God  bless  you,  Mr.  Deputy-mayor !  " 

Birotteau  had  sneezed  while  fumbling  for  his  papers.  He 
held  them  out,  not  without  remarking  that  to  save  any  delay 
he  had  had  them  made  out  at  his  own  expense  by  M.  Roguin 
his  notary. 

"  I  do  not  call  Monsieur  Roguin's  knowledge  in  question  ; 
'tis  an  old  name,  well  known  in  the  Parisian  notarial ;  but  I 
have  my  little  ways  of  doing  things,  and  I  look  after  my 
affairs  myself,  a  hobby  excusable  enough ;  and,  then,  my 
notary  is " 

"But  this  is  such  a  simple  matter,"  said  the  perfumer, 
accustomed  to  prompt  decisions  on  the  part  of  buyers  and 
sellers. 

"Simple  /"  echoed  Molineux.  "Nothing  is  simple  where 
house-property  is  concerned.  Ah  !  you  are  not  a  landlord, 
sir ;  so  much  the  happier,  you  !  If  you  but  knew  the  lengths 
to  which  a  tenant  will  push  ingratitude  and  what  precautions 
we  have  to  take  !  Now  just  listen  to  this,  sir ;  I  have  a  tenant 

that "  and  for  fifteen  minutes  he  held  forth,  relating 

how  that  M.  Gendrin,  a  draughtsman,  had  eluded  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  caretaker  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honor^.  M.  Gendrin 
had  perpetrated  scandals  worthy  of  a  Marat,  obscene  draw- 
ings !  and  the  police  tolerated  it ;  nay,  they  were  made  with 
the  connivance  of  the  police  !  Then  this  Gendrin,  an  artist 
of  thoroughly  immoral  character,  had  gone  back  to  the  house 
with  loose  women,  and  made  it  impossible  to  go  up  and  down 
the  stairs,  a  prank  worthy  of  a  man  who  drew  caricatures  to 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  93 

ridicule  the  Government.  And  why  all  these  misdeeds  ?  Be- 
cause he  was  asked  to  pay  his  rent  on  the  i5th.  Gendrin 
and  Molineux  were  about  to  go  to  law  about  it ;  for,  while  the 
artist  did  not  pay,  he  insisted  on  occupying  the  empty  rooms. 
Molineux  received  anonymous  letters — from  Gendrin,  no 
doubt — threatening  to  murder  him  some  night  in  the  alleys 
about  the  Cour  Batave. 

"Things  have  arrived  at  such  a  pitch,  sir,"  he  went  on, 
"  that  the  prefect  of  police,  to  whom  in  confidence  I  related 
my  difficulty  (at  the  same  time  I  took  the  opportunity  of  saying 
a  word  or  two  touching  the  alterations  that  ought  to  be  made  in 
the  provisions  of  the  law  for  such  cases),  gave  me  an  authori- 
zation to  carry  firearms  in  self-defense." 

The  little  old  man  got  up  to  look  for  his  pistols. 

"  Here  they  are,  sir  !  "  cried  he. 

"  But  you  have  nothing  of  that  kind  to  fear  from  me,  sir," 
said  Birotteau,  glancing  at  Cayron  with  a  smile  that  plainly 
expressed  his  pity  for  such  a  man. 

Molineux  caught  the  glance,  and  was  shocked  to  see  such 
a  look  on  the  countenance  of  a  "municipal  officer,"  whose 
duty  it  was  to  see  to  the  safety  of  those  in  his  district.  He 
could  have  forgiven  it  in  anybody  else,  but  in  Birotteau  it  was 
unpardonable. 

"Sir,"  Molineux  answered  drily,  "one  of  the  most  highly 
respected  judges  in  the  Consular  Tribune,  a  deputy-mayor, 
and  an  honorable  merchant,  would  not  condescend  to  such 
baseness,  for  baseness  it  is  !  But  in  this  particular  case  you 
want  the  consent  of  your  landlord,  Monsieur  le  Comte  de 
Granville,  before  you  make  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  stipulations 
must  be  made  in  the  agreement  touching  the  restoration  of  the 
wall  on  the  expiration  of  the  lease.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
too,  the  rent  is  a  great  deal  lower  than  it  will  be ;  rents  will 
go  up  all  about  the  Place  Vendome;  they  are  going  up 
already !  The  Rue  Castiglione  is  about  to  be  built.  I  am 
binding  myself  down — I  am  binding — myself " 


94  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

"Let  us  have  done  with  it,"  said  Birotteau.  "What  do 
you  want?  I  have  had  enough  experience  of  business  to 
guess  that  your  reasonings  can  be  silenced  by  the  great  argu- 
ment— money  !  Well,  how  much  do  you  want?  " 

"  Nothing  but  what  is  fair,  sir.  How  long  has  your  lease 
to  run?" 

"Seven  years,"  answered  Birotteau. 

"What  may  not  my  second  floor  be  worth  in  seven  years' 
time  ?  "  cried  Molineux.  "  What  will  two  furnished  rooms  let 
for  over  in  your  quarter  ?  More  than  two  hundred  francs  a 
month  very  likely!  I  am  binding  myself;  binding  myself 
down  by  a  lease.  So  we  will  set  down  the  rent  at  fifteen 
hundred  francs.  At  that  figure  I  will  consent  to  receive  you 
as  a  tenant  for  the  two  rooms  instead  of  M.  Cayron  here," 
giving  the  dealer  a  sly  wink,  "and  let  you  have  them  on 
lease  for  seven  consecutive  years.  The  opening  in  the  wall 
you  will  make  at  your  own  charges,  subject  to  your  bringing 
to  me  proof  that  Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Granville  sanctions  it 
and  waives  all  his  rights  in  the  matter.  Whatever  happens  in 
consequence  of  the  small  opening,  the  responsibility  will  rest 
upon  you ;  but  you  shall  be  in  nowise  bound  to  reinstate  the 
wall  so  far  as  I  am  concerned ;  you  shall  pay  me  down  five 
hundred  francs  now  instead;  we  never  can  tell  what  may 
happen  ;  and  I  don't  want  to  run  about  after  anybody  to  put 
up  my  wall  again  for  me." 

"  The  conditions  seem  to  me  scarcely  fair,"  put  in  Birotteau. 

"Then  you  must  pay  me  down  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
francs  hie  et  nunc,  to  be  carried  forward  till  the  last  six  months 
of  possession  ;  the  lease  will  be  a  sufficient  discharge.  Oh  ! 
I  will  take  bills  of  exchange  for  value  received  in  rent,  at  any 
date  you  please,  so  that  I  have  my  guarantee.  I  am  a  plain- 
dealing  man,  and  go  straight  to  the  point  in  business.  We 
will  stipulate  that  you  shall  wall  up  the  door  on  my  staircase, 
where  you  have  no  right  of  way — at  your  own  expense — in 
brick  and  mortar.  Reassure  yourself,  I  shall  not  call  upon  you 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  95 

to  make  it  good  when  the  lease  expires;  I  shall  regard  the 
five  hundred  francs  as  an  indemnity.  You  will  always  find  me 
reasonable,  sir." 

"  We  in  business  are  not  so  particular,"  said  the  perfumer  ; 
"  if  we  had  all  these  formalities,  we  should  do  no  business  at 
all." 

"  Oh,  in  business,  that  is  quite  another  thing,  especially  in 
the  perfumery  line,  where  everything  slips  off  and  on  like  a 
glove,"  said  the  little  old  man,  with  a  sour  smile.  "But 
with  house-property  in  Paris,  sir,  you  cannot  be  too  particular. 
Why,  I  had  a  tenant  in  the  Rue  Montorgueil " 

"  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  delay  your  breakfast,  sir,"  said 
Birotteau ;  "  here  are  the  deeds,  set  them  right,  all  that  you 
ask  me  is  agreed  to ;  let  us  sign  the  documents  to-morrow, 
and  give  our  promises  by  word  of  mouth  to-day,  for  to-mor- 
row my  architect  must  be  put  in  possession  of  the  place." 

Molineux  looked  again  at  the  umbrella  dealer.  "  There  is 
part  of  the  term  expired,  sir ;  Monsieur  Cayron  has  no  mind 
to  pay  for  it ;  we  will  add  the  amount  to  the  little  bills,  so 
that  the  agreement  will  run  from  January  to  January.  That 
will  be  more  business-like." 

"  So  be  it,"  said  Birotteau. 

"  There  is  the  sou  in  the  franc  for  the  porter " 

"Why,  you  are  not  allowing  me  to  use  the  staircase  and 
the  doorway;  it  is  not  right  that " 

"Oh  !  but  you  are  a  tenant !  "  cried  little  Molineux  in 
peremptory  tones,  up  .in  arms  for  the  principle  involved. 
"  You  must  pay  door  and  window  taxes  and  your  share  of  the 
others.  If  once  we  clearly  understand  each  other,  sir,  there 
will  be  no  difficulties  hereafter.  Is  your  business  rapidly  in- 
creasing, sir  ;  are  you  doing  well  ?  " 

"Yes,"  said  Birotteau,  "  but  that  is  not  my  reason.  I  am 
inviting  a  few  of  my  friends,  partly  to  celebrate  the  evacuation 
of  the  foreign  troops,  partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  own  pro- 
motion to  the  Legion  of  Honor " 


96  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"Aha!"  said  the  flattering  Molineux,  "a  well-deserved 
honor." 

"Yes,"  said  Birotteau.  "It  may  be  that  I  have  shown 
myself  not  unworthy  of  this  signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by  act- 
ing in  my  capacity  at  the  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by  fighting 
for  the  Bourbons  on  the  steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the  i3th 
of  Venddmiaire,  where  I  was  wounded  by  Napoleon ;  these 
claims " 

"  Equal  those  of  our  heroes  in  the  late  army.  The  ribbon 
is  red,  because  it  has  been  dyed  in  blood  shed  for  France." 

At  these  words,  a  quotation  from  the  "  Constitutional," 
Birotteau  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  invite  little  Molineux, 
who  grew  quite  incoherent  in  his  thanks,  and  was  almost 
ready  to  forgive  the  slight  which  had  been  put  upon  him. 
The  old  man  went  as  far  as  the  stairhead  with  his  new  tenant, 
overwhelming  him  with  civilities. 

As  soon  as  they  were  outside  in  the  Cour  Batave,  Birotteau 
looked  at  Cayron  with  an  amused  expression. 

"  I  did  not  think  that  there  was  such  a  weak-minded  crea- 
ture in  existence,"  he  said  ;  "  idiot  "  had  been  on  the  tip  of 
his  tongue,  but  he  suppressed  it  in  time. 

"Ah,  sir!"  said  Cayron,  "  everybody  is  not  so  clever  as 
you  are." 

Birotteau  might  be  excused  for  thinking  himself  a  clever 
man  compared  with  Molineux ;  the  umbrella-dealer's  reply 
drew  a  pleasant  smile  from  him  ;  he  took  leave  of  his  com- 
panion with  a  regal  air. 

"  Here  am  I  at  the  Market,"  he  said  to  himself;  "let  us 
arrange  about  the  hazelnuts." 

After  an  hour  spent  in  making  inquiries,  the  market-women 
referred  Birotteau  to  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  the  headquarters 
of  the  trade  in  nuts  for  confectionery,  and  there  his  friends 
the  Matifats  informed  him  that  the  only  wholesale  dealer  in 
hazelnuts  was  one  Mme.  Angdlique  Madou,  resident  in  the 
Rue  Perrin-Gasselin  ;  and  that  this  was  the  one  house  in  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  97 

trade  for  genuine  Provencal  filberts  and  white  Alpine  hazel- 
nuts. 

The  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin  lies  in  a  quadrangle  bounded  by 
the  quay,  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  the  Rue  de  la  Ferronnerie, 
and  the  Rue  de  la  Monnaie,  a  labyrinth  of  slums  which  are, 
as  it  were,  the  entrails  of  Paris.  Here  countless  numbers  of 
heterogeneous  and  nondescript  industries  are  carried  on ;  evil- 
smelling  trades,  and  the  manufacture  of  the  daintiest  finery, 
herrings  and  lawn,  silk  and  honey,  butter  and  tulle,  jostle 
each  other  in  its  squalid  precincts.  Here  are  the  headquarters 
of  those  multitudinous  small  trades  which  Paris  no  more  sus- 
pects in  its  midst  than  a  man  surmises  the  functions  performed 
by  the  pancreas  in  the  human  economy.  In  this  congested 
district,  in  which  one  Bidault  of  the  Rue  Grenetat  (otherwise 
known  as  Gigonnet  the  pawnbroker)  played  the  part  of  leech, 
the  whole  stock  of  goods  sold  in  the  Great  Market  is  kept. 
The  ancient  stables  are  warehouses  where  tons  of  oil  are 
stored ;  the  old  coach-houses  hold  thousands  of  pairs  of  cot- 
ton stockings. 

Mme.  Madou,  sometime  a  fish-wife,  had  gone  into  the 
"dry-fruit  line"  some  ten  years  before  this  present  year  of 
grace,  on  her  entrance  into  a  partnership  with  the  late  owner 
of  the  business,  who  had  an  old-established  connection  among 
the  ladies  of  the  Great  Market.  Her  beauty,  of  a  vigorous 
and  provocative  order,  had  disappeared  in  excessive  stoutness. 
She  lived  on  the  first  floor  of  a  yellow,  dilapidated  house,  held 
together  by  iron  clamps  at  every  story.  The  departed  dealer 
in  dry-fruit  had  succeeded  in  ridding  himself  of  competitors 
and  had  secured  a  monopoly  of  the  trade ;  so  that,  in  spite  of 
some  slight  defects  of  education,  his  successor  could  continue 
in  the  same  groove,  and  came  and  went  in  her  warehouses, 
old  out-buildings,  stables,  and  workshops,  where  she  waged 
war  against  insect  life  with  some  success. 

Mme.  Angelique  Madou  dispensed  with  counting-house, 
safe,  and  book-keeping  (for  she  could  neither  read  nor  write), 
7 


98  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

and  answered  a  letter  by  blows  of  the  fist,  for  she  looked  upon 
it  as  an  insult.  In  other  respects  she  was  a  good-natured 
soul,  with  a  high-colored  countenance,  and  a  bandanna  hand- 
kerchief tied  about  her  head  beneath  her  cap,  and  a  trumpet 
voice  which  won  the  respect  of  the  carmen  who  brought  goods 
to  the  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin,  and  whose  "rows"  with  her 
usually  ended  in  a  small  bottle  of  white  wine.  She  could  not 
well  have  any  trouble  with  the  growers  who  supplied  her,  for 
she  always  paid  cash  on  delivery,  the  only  way  of  carrying  on 
such  a  business  as  hers,  and  Mother  Madou  went  into  the 
country  to  see  them  in  the  summer-time. 

Birotteau  found  this  shrewish  saleswoman  among  her  sacks 
of  hazelnuts,  chestnuts,  and  walnuts. 

"Good-day,  my  dear  lady,"  said  the  jaunty  Birotteau  flip- 
pantly. 

"  Your  dear!"  returned  she.  "So  you  have  pleasant 
recollections  of  your  dealings  with  me,  have  you  ?  Have  we 
met  each  other  at  court  ?  " 

"  I  am  a  perfumer,  and,  what  is  more,  deputy-mayor  of  the 
Second  Arrondissement  of  Paris,  and  I  have  a  right  to  expect 
a  different  tone  from  you." 

"I  marry  when  I  have  a  mind,"  said  the  virago;  "I  am 
no  customer  at  the  mayor's  office,  and  don't  trouble  deputy- 
mayors  much.  And  as  for  my  customers  they  adore  me,  and 
I  talk  to  'em  as  I  please.  If  they  don't  like  it,  they  may  take 
themselves  somewhere  else." 

"  See  what  comes  of  a  monopoly,"  muttered  Birotteau. 

"  Popole?  that's  my  godson ;  he  has  been  up  to  some  foolery 
perhaps ;  have  you  come  for  him,  your  worship  ?  "  she  asked, 
in  milder  tones. 

"  No.  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  come  to  you 
as  a  customer." 

"All  right.  What  is  your  name,  my  lad  ?  I  haven't  seen 
you  here  before." 

"  If  that  is  the  way  you  talk,  you  ought  to  sell  your  nuts 


"GOOD-DAY.  MY  DEAR  LADY,-'  SAID   BIKOTTEAU  FLIPPANTLY 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  99 

cheap,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  mentioned  his  name  and 
designation. 

"  Oh  !  you  are  the  famous  Birotteau  with  the  handsome 
wife.  Well,  and  what  weight  do  you  want  of  these  little  dears 
of  hazelnuts,  honey?" 

"  Six  thousand  pounds  weight." 

"It  is  as  much  as  I  have,"  said  the  saleswoman,  with  a 
voice  like  a  cracked  flute.  "You  are  not  in  the  do-nothing 
line,  marrying  the  girls,  and  making  scent  for  them.  Lord, 
bless  you !  you  do  a  trade,  you  do !  Sorry  I  have  so  little 
for  you !  You  will  be  a  fine  customer,  and  your  name  will 
be  written  on  the  heart  of  the  woman  that  I  love  best  in  the 
world " 

"  Who  may  that  be  ?" 

"Who  but  dear  Madame  Madou." 

"  What  do  you  want  for  the  nuts?  " 

"Twenty-five  francs  the  hundredweight  to  you,  mister,  if 
you  take  the  lot." 

"Twenty-five  francs,"  said  Birotteau.  "That  is  fifteen 
hundred  francs  !  And  I  shall  very  likely  take  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds  weight  in  a  year !  " 

"But  just  look  at  the  quality;  no  husks!"  cried  she, 
plunging  a  red  arm  into  a  sack  of  filberts.  "  Sound  kernels, 
my  dear  sir.  Just  think,  now,  the  grocers  sell  their  mixed 
dessert  fruits  at  twenty-four  sous  the  pound,  and  in  every  four 
pounds  they  put  more  than  a  pound  of  hazelnuts.  Am  I  to  lose 
money  on  the  goods  to  please  you  ?  You  are  a  nice  man,  but 
I  don't  care  enough  about  you  yet  to  do  that.  As  you  are 
taking  such  a  quantity,  we  might  let  you  have  them  at  twenty 
francs,  for  it  won't  do  to  send  away  a  deputy-mayor ;  it  would 
bring  bad  luck  to  the  young  couples !  A  good  article ;  just 
feel  the  weight  of  them  !  They  wouldn't  go  fifty  to  the 
pound  !  Sound  nuts  they  are,  not  one  single  maggot  among 
them!" 

"Well,  send  six  thousand  pounds  weight  early  to-morrow 


100  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

morning  to  my  factory  in  the  Rue  Faubourg  du  Temple,  for 
two  thousand  francs  at  ninety  days." 

"  They  shall  be  punctual  as  a  bride  at  a  wedding.  Well, 
good-by,  Monsieur  le  Maire ;  we  part  good  friends.  But  if  it 
is  all  the  same  to  you,"  following  Birotteau  into  the  court,  "  I 
would  rather  have  a  bill  at  forty  days,  for  I  have  let  you  have 
them  too  cheap,  and  I  can't  afford  to  lose  the  interest  on  the 
money  too.  For  all  his  sentimental  ways,  old  Gigonnet  sucks 
the  life  out  of  us,  as  a  spider  sucks  a  fly. " 

"Very  well,  yes,  fifty  days.  But  I'll  have  the  nuts  by 
weight,  so  as  not  to  lose  on  the  hollow  ones.  They  must  be 
weighed  or  I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  them." 

"  Oh,  the  fox ;  he  knows  that  dodge,  does  he  ?  "  said  Mme. 
Madou ;  "  you  can't  catch  him  napping.  Those  beggars  in 
the  Rue  des  Lombards  put  him  up  to  that  1  Those  great 
wolves  yonder  are  all  in  a  league  to  devour  us  poor  lambs." 

The  lamb  was  five  feet  high  and  three  feet  around  ;  she  had 
not  a  vestige  of  a  waist,  and  looked  like  a  post  in  a  striped 
cotton  gown. 

As  he  went  along  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6,  the  perfumer, 
lost  in  his  schemes,  meditated  on  his  duel  with  Macassar 
Oil.  He  designed  the  labels,  decided  on  the  shape  of  the 
bottles,  the  quality  of  the  corks,  the  color  of  the  placards. 
And  people  say  that  there  is  no  poetry  in  business!  Newton 
did  not  make  more  calculations  over  the  discovery  of  the 
famous  binomial  theorem  than  Birotteau  made  for  the  "  Com- 
agen  Essence"  (for  it  was  an  essence  now;  the  words  oil 
and  essence  possessed  no  definite  meaning  for  him,  and  he 
went  from  the  one  to  the  other).  All  these  combinations 
were  seething  in  his  head,  and  he  mistook  the  ferment  of  an 
empty  brain  for  the  germination  of  an  idea.  So  absorbed  was 
he  in  his  meditations  that  he  went  past  the  Rue  des  Bourdon- 
nais,  and,  bethinking  himself  of  his  uncle,  was  obliged  to  re- 
trace his  steps. 

Claude-Joseph  Pillerault,  formerly  a  retail  hardware  dealer 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  101 

at  the  sign  of  the  Golden  Bell,  was  one  of  those  human  beings 
whose  exterior  is  the  outward  and  visible  expression  of  a 
beautiful  nature ;  and  heart  and  brain,  language  and  thought, 
his  manner  and  the  clothes  that  he  wore,  were  all  in  harmony. 
He  was  the  only  relation  that  Mme.  Birotteau  had  in  the 
world,  and  upon  her  and  on  Cesarine  Pillerault  had  centred 
all  his  affections ;  for  in  the  course  of  his  business  career  he 
had  lost  his  wife  and  his  son,  and  a  boy  whom  he  had  adopted, 
the  son  of  his  cook. 

These  cruel  bereavements  had  given  to  the  good  man's 
thoughts  a  cast  of  Christian  stoicism,  a  lofty  doctrine  which 
was  the  informing  spirit  of  his  life,  and  shed  the  radiance  of  a 
winter  sunset  over  his  last  years,  a  glow  that  brings  no  warmth. 
There  was  a  tinge  of  asceticism  about  the  thin,  worn  face, 
where  sallow  and  swarthy  tones  were  harmoniously  blended ; 
you  saw  in  it  a  striking  resemblance  to  typical  presentments 
of  Time ;  but  the  every-day  cares  of  a  retail  business  had 
touched  this  face,  there  was  less  of  the  monumental  quality, 
less  of  the  grimness  insisted  upon  by  painters,  sculptors,  and 
designers  of  bronze  figures  for  clocks. 

Pillerault  was  of  middle  Jieight,  and  thick-set  rather  than 
stout.  Nature  had  fashioned  him  for  hard  work  and  a  long 
life;  he  was  strongly  built,  as  his  square  shoulders  indicated; 
a  man  of  phlegmatic  temper,  whose  feelings,  though  he  could 
feel,  did  not  lie  on  the  surface.  His  quiet  manner  and  reso- 
lute face  indicated  that  he  was  little  given  to  the  expression 
of  his  emotions ;  but,  reserved  and  undemonstrative  though  he 
was,  there  were  depths  of  tenderness  in  Pillerault's  nature. 
The  principal  characteristic  of  the  hazel  eyes,  with  dark 
specks  in  them,  was  their  unvarying  clearness.  There  were 
deep  furrows  in  a  forehead  sallowed  by  time,  narrow,  con- 
tracted, and  stern,  and  covered  with  gray  hair,  cut  so  short 
that  it  looked  like  felt.  Prudence,  not  avarice,  was  expressed 
in  the  lines  of  the  thin  lips.  The  brightness  of  the  eyes  told 
of  a  temperate  life  ;  and,  indeed,  sincerity,  a  sense  of  duty,  and 


102  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

a  real  humility  glorified  his  features  and  set  off  his  face,  as 
health  does. 

For  sixty  years  he  had  led  a  hard  and  dreary  existence,  a 
constant  struggle  for  a  livelihood.  It  was  the  same  story  as 
Cesar's  own,  with  Cesar's  luck  omitted.  Pillerault  had  re- 
mained an  assistant  till  he  was  thirty  years  old  ;  he  had  em- 
barked his  capital  in  business  at  an  age  when  Cesar  was 
investing  his  savings  in  rentes ;  then  the  law  of  the  maximum 
had  hit  him  hard,  and  his  pickaxes  and  spades  had  been  req- 
uisitioned. His  taciturn  wisdom,  his  foresight,  and  logical 
clear-headedness  had  had  their  effect  on  his  "ways  of  doing 
business."  His  bargains  were  concluded,  as  a  rule,  by 
word  of  mouth,  and  difficulties  seldom  arose.  Like  most 
meditative  people,  he  was  an  observer ;  he  said  little,  and 
studied  those  who  talked ;  often  he  had  declined  good  bar- 
gains of  which  his  neighbors  had  availed  themselves,  and  sub- 
sequently repented,  and  vowed  that  Pillerault  could  smell  out 
a  rogue.  He  preferred  sure  gains,  if  of  the  smallest,  to  bold 
strokes  of  business  involving  heavy  sums. 

His  stock  of  hardware  consisted  of  grates,  gridirons,  cast- 
iron  fire-dogs,  boilers,  and  copper  caldrons,  hoes,  and  such 
agricultural  implements  as  laborers  use;  somewhat  unremuner- 
ative  branches  of  a  business  that  involves  continual  drudgery. 
Hardware  is  ponderous,  awkward  to  handle,  and  difficult  to 
store,  and  the  profits  are  not  heavy  in  proportion ;  so  Pillerault 
had  nailed  up  many  a  case,  sent  off  many  packages,  and  un- 
loaded many  vans.  Never  had  a  competence  been  more 
honorably  earned,  more  thoroughly  deserved,  more  to  the 
credit  of  the  man  who  had  made  it.  He  had  never  asked  too 
much,  had  never  run  after  business.  Toward  the  end  of  the 
time,  you  might  have  seen  him  smoking  his  pipe  in  the  door- 
way and  watching  his  assistants  at  work.  In  1814,  when  he 
retired,  his  actual  capital  at  first  consisted  of  seventy  thousand 
francs,  which  he  invested  in  Government  stock  that  brought 
him  in  five  thousand  and  some  odd  hundred  francs  a  year, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  103 

with  a  further  forty  thousand  francs  due  in  five  years'  time, 
when  the  assistant  to  whom  he  had  sold  the  business  was  to 
pay  for  it.  On  this  amount,  meanwhile,  no  interest  was  paid. 
For  thirty  years  he  had  annually  made  seven  per  cent,  on  a 
turnover  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  had  lived  on  half 
his  income.  Such  was  his  balance-sheet. 

His  neighbors,  but  little  jealous  of  this  by  no  means  brilliant 
success,  extolled  his  wisdom  without  comprehending  it. 

At  the  corner  of  the  Rue  de  la  Monnaie  and  the  Rue  Saint- 
Honore  stands  the  Cafe  David,  where  a  few  retired  trades- 
men, such  as  Pillerault,  congregate  of  an  evening  to  take 
their  coffee.  At  one  time,  Pillerault's  adoption  of  his  cook's 
son  had  occasioned  a  few  jokes  among  its  frequenters,  such 
jokes  as  are  addressed  to  a  man  looked  up  to  among  his 
fellows,  for  the  hardware  man  received  a  respect  for  which  he 
had  not  sought ;  his  own  self-respect  sufficed  him.  So  when 
Pillerault  lost  the  poor  young  fellow  there  were  more  than 
two  hundred  people  at  the  funeral  who  followed  his  adopted 
child  to  the  grave.  He  behaved  heroically  in  those  days, 
making  no  parade  of  his  grief,  bearing  it  as  a  brave  man 
bears  sorrow.  This  increased  the  sympathy  felt  in  the  quarter 
for] the  "good  man,"  as  they  called  him,  and  the  accent  in 
which  the  words  were  spoken  gave  the  words  a  wider  and 
ennobled  meaning  when  they  applied  to  Pillerault. 

Claude  Pillerault  had  become  so  accustomed  to  the  sober 
even  tenor  of  his  life  that,  when  he  retired  from  business  and 
entered  upon  the  time  of  leisure,  which  hangs  so  heavily  on 
many  a  Parisian  tradesman's  hands,  he  could  not  unbend  and 
divert  himself  with  the  amusements  of  an  idle  life  ;  he  made 
no  change  in  his  housekeeping ;  and  his  old  age  was  enlivened 
by  his  political  opinions,  which,  let  us  admit  it  at  once,  were 
those  of  the  extreme  Left. 

Pillerault  belonged  to  the  artisan  class,  which  the  Revolu- 
tion had  brought  into  cooperation  with  the  small  storekeepers. 
The  one  blot  on  his  character  was  the  importance  which  he 


104  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

attached  to  the  victory  of  his  principles  ;  he  dwelt  fondly  on 
his  rights,  on  liberty,  on  the  great  results  of  the  Revolution ; 
he  firmly  believed  that  his  political  freedom  and  existence 
were  being  undermined  by  the  Jesuits,  whose  underhand 
power  the  Liberals  discovered,  and  threatened  by  the  ideas 
with  which  the  "  Constitutionnel "  credited  Monsieur  the 
King's  brother.  He  was,  however,  consistent  in  his  life  and 
in  his  ideas ;  there  was  nothing  narrow  in  his  political  views ; 
he  never  abused  his  adversaries,  he  held  courtiers  in  suspicion, 
and  believed  in  Republican  virtues.  He  imagined  that  Manuel 
was  guiltless  of  any  excesses,  that  General  Foy  was  a  great 
man,  and  Casimir  P6rier  without  ambition  ;  to  his  thinking, 
Lafayette  was  a  political  prophet,  Courier  a  good  man.  In 
short,  he  beheld  noble  chimerical  visions. 

The  good  man  was  domestic  in  his  habits ;  he  made  part  of 
the  family  circle  in  which  his  niece  lived — the  Ragons,  Judge 
Popinot,  Joseph  Lebas,  and  the  Matifats.  Fifteen  hundred 
francs  a  year  supplied  his  needs ;  the  rest  of  his  income  was 
spent  in  charitable  deeds  and  in  presents  to  his  grandniece ; 
four  times  a  year  he  gave  a  dinner  to  his  friends  at  Roland's 
in  the  Rue  du  Hasard,  and  took  them  afterward  to  the  play. 
He  played  the  part  of  the  old  bachelor  friend  on  whom 
married  women  draw  bills  at  sight  for  their  fancies;  for  a 
country  excursion,  a  party  for  the  opera  or  the  Montagnes- 
Beaujon ;  and  Pillerault  would  be  very  happy  at  such  times  in 
the  pleasure  which  he  was  giving,  and  felt  the  gladness  in  other 
hearts. 

If  Molineux's  character  was  written  at  large  in  his  queer 
furniture,  Pillerault's  pure  heart  and  simple  life  were  no  less 
revealed  by  his  surroundings.  His  abode  consisted  of  a  lobby, 
a  sitting-room,  and  bedroom.  But  for  the  difference  in  size, 
it  might  have  been  a  Carthusian's  cell.  The  lobby,  floored 
with  red  tiles,  which  were  beeswaxed,  boasted  but  one  window, 
hung  with  dimity  curtains  edged  with  scarlet ;  mahogany 
chairs,  with  red  leather  cushions  and  studded  with  brass  nails, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  105 

stood  against  the  wall,  which  was  covered  with  an  olive-green 
paper,  and  adorned  with  pictures — a  "  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence," a  portrait  of  Bonaparte  as  First  Consul,  and  a 
"Battle  of  Austerlitz."  The  furniture  of  the  sitting-room, 
doubtless  left  to  the  upholsterer,  was  yellow,  and  covered  with 
a  flowered  pattern ;  there  was  a  carpet  on  the  floor ;  the 
bronze  ornaments  on  the  mantel  were  not  gilded.  There  was 
a  painted  fire-screen  before  the  grate ;  a  vase  of  artificial 
flowers  under  a  glass  shade  stood  on  a  console,  and  a  liqueur 
stand  on  a  round  table  covered  with  a  cloth.  It  was  evident 
from  the  unused  look  of  the  room  that  it  was  a  concession  to 
convention  on  the  part  of  the  retired  hardware  dealer,  who 
rarely  received  visitors. 

His  own  room  was  as  bare  as  that  of  a  monk  or  an  old  sol- 
dier, the  two  men  who  make  the  truest  estimate  of  life.  In  the 
alcove  a  holy-water  stoup  caught  the  eye,  a  profoundly  touch- 
ing confession  of  faith  in  a  Republican  stoic  and  a  strict  anti- 
Jesuit. 

An  old  woman  came  in  to  do  the  work  of  the  establishment ; 
but,  so  great  was  Pillerault's  reverence  for  womankind,  that  he 
would  not  allow  her  to  clean  his  shoes  and  made  an  arrange- 
ment with  a  bootblack. 

His  costume  was  plain  and  never  varied.  He  always  wore 
a  coat  and  breeches  of  blue  cloth,  a  cotton  vest,  a  white  cravat, 
and  very  low  walking  shoes ;  and  on  high-days  and  holidays  a 
coat  with  metal  buttons.  He  rose,  breakfasted,  went  out, 
dined,  and  returned  home  when  the  evening  was  over  with  the 
strictest  regularity,  for  a  methodical  life  conduces  to  health 
and  length  of  days.  Cdsar,  the  Ragons,  and  the  Abbe  Loraux 
always  avoided  the  subject  of  politics  ;  those  of  his  own  circle 
knew  better  than  to  court  attack  by  trying  to  convert  him. 
Like  his  nephew  and  the  Ragons,  he  put  great  faith  in  Roguin  ; 
for  him  a  notary  of  Paris  was  always  a  being  to  be  venerated 
and  probity  incarnate.  In  the  matter  of  the  building  land, 
Pillerault  had  examined  it  so  thoroughly  that  the  remembrance 


106  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

of  his  investigations  had  given  Cesar  moral  support  in  the 
combat  with  his  wife's  forebodings. 

As  Cesar  climbed  the  seventy-two  steps  of  the  stairs  which 
led  to  the  low,  brown  doorway  of  his  uncle's  rooms,  he  thought 
within  himself  that  the  old  man  must  be  very  hale  to  go  up 
and  down  them  daily  without  a  murmur.  He  found  the  coat 
and  breeches  hanging  on  a  peg  outside,  and  Mme.  Vaillant 
busy  rubbing  and  brushing  them ;  while  the  philosopher  him- 
self, in  his  gray  flannel  dressing-gown,  was  breakfasting  by  the 
fireside,  and  conning  the  reports  of  parliamentary  debates  in 
the  "  Constitutionnel  "  or  the  "  Journal  du  Commerce." 

"The  affair  is  settled,  uncle,"  said  Cesar,  "  they  are  just 
about  to  draft  the  documents ;  but  if  you  have  any  doubts  or 
regret  about  it,  there  is  still  time  to  cry  off." 

"  Why  should  I  cry  off?  It  is  a  good  piece  of  business, 
but  it  takes  some  time  to  realize,  like  everything  that  is  safe. 
My  fifty  thousand  francs  are  lying  at  the  bank ;  the  last  install- 
ment of  five  thousand  francs  for  my  business  was  paid  in  yes- 
terday. As  for  the  Ragons,  they  are  putting  all  that  they  have 
into  it." 

"  Why,  how  do  they  live  ?  " 

"Never  mind ;  they  live,  at  all  events." 

"  I  understand  you,  uncle,"  said  Birotteau,  deeply  touched, 
and  he  grasped  the  austere  old  man's  hands  tightly  in  his. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  this  business?  "  Pillerault 
asked  abruptly. 

"I  shall  take  three-eighths;  you  and  the  Ragons  will  take 
an  eighth  between  you  ;  I  shall  credit  you  with  the  amount  in 
my  books  until  they  decide  the  question  of  the  deeds." 

"  Good  !  Are  you  so  very  rich,  my  boy,  that  you  pay  down 
three  hundred  thousand  francs?  It  looks  to  me  as  though  you 
were  risking  a  good  deal  of  money  outside  your  business ; 
won't  the  business  suffer?  After  all,  it  is  your  own  affair.  If 
you  are  pulled  up,  here  are  the  funds  at  ninety ;  I  could  sell 
out  two  thousand  francs  in  consols.  Take  care,  though,  my 


CJESAR  BIROTTEAU.  107 

boy;  if  you  come  to  me  you  will  be  laying  hands  on  your 
girl's  fortune." 

"  Uncle,  you  say  the  kindest  things  as  if  they  were  a  matter 
of  course  ;  it  goes  to  my  heart  to  hear  you." 

"  General  Foy  touched  me  after  another  fashion  just  now  ! 
There,  at  all  events,  it  is  settled.  The  building  lots  won't 
fly  away  ;  we  shall  have  them  for  half  their  value  ;  and,  even  if 
we  should  have  to  wait  six  years,  there  will  still  be  something 
in  the  way  of  interest ;  lumber  yards  would  pay  rent,  so  we  can- 
not lose.  There  is  only  one  thing,  and  that  is  impossible — 
Roguin  will  not  run  away  with  our  capital " 


"  But  that  is  what  my  wife  said  last  night ;  she  is  afraid- 


"That  Roguin  will  run  off  with  our  money,"  said  Piller- 
ault,  laughing  ;  "  and  why  ?  " 

"Well,  she  says  she  doesn't  like  the  cut  of  his  features ; 
and,  like  all  men  who  cannot  have  women,  he  is  frantic 
for " 

An  incredulous  smile  stole  over  Pillerault's  face ;  he  tore  a 
leaf  out  of  a  little  book,  filled  in  the  amount,  and  signed  his 
name. 

"  Here,  this  is  an  order  on  the  bank  for  a  hundred  thousand 
francs,  for  Ragon's  share  and  mine.  Those  poor  people, 
though,  to  make  up  the  money,  sold  out  their  fifteen  shares  in 
the  Wortschin  mines  to  your  worthless  rogue  of  a  du  Tillet. 
Good  people  in  sore  straits;  it  goes  to  one's  heart  to  see  it. 
And  such  good  people  they  are,  such  noble  people,  the  flower 
of  the  old-fashioned  bourgeoisie,  in  fact  !  Their  brother  Pop- 
inot,  the  judge,  knows  nothing  about  it  ;  they  are  hiding 
their  affairs  from  him,  lest  they  should  hinder  him  from  giving 
free  course  to  his  benevolence.  People  who  have  worked  as 
I  did  for  thirty  years " 

"  God  grant  that  the  Comagen  Oil  succeeds  !  "  cried  Birot- 
teau,  "and  I  shall  be  doubly  pleased.  Good-day,  uncle;  you 
are  coming  to  dine  with  us  on  Sunday  with  the  Ragons  and 
Roguin  ;  and  Monsieur  Claparon  is  coming,  for  we  are  all 


108  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

going  to  sign  the  papers  the  day  after  to-morrow ;  to-morrow 
will  be  Friday,  and  I  don't  want  to  do  bus " 

"  Do  you  really  believe  in  those  superstitions?" 

"  I  shall  never  believe  that  the  day  when  the  Son  of  God 
was  put  to  death  by  men  can  be  a  lucky  day,  uncle.  Why  ? 
— people  stop  all  business  even  on  the  2ist  of  January." 

"Good-by  till  Sunday,"  said  Pillerault  abruptly. 

"  If  it  weren't  for  his  political  opinions,"  said  Birotteau  to 
himself,  as  he  went  downstairs  again,  "  I  do  not  know  where 
they  would  find  his  equal  here  below.  What  are  politics  to 
him?  He  would  get  on  very  nicely  without  thinking  of  them 
at  all.  His  infatuation  shows  that  no  one  is  perfect.  Three 
o'clock  already  !  "  said  Cesar,  as  he  entered  his  store. 

"Are  you  going  to  take  these  bills,  sir?"  asked  Celestin, 
holding  out  the  umbrella-dealer's  collection  of  bills. 

"Yes,  at  six  per  cent.,  no  commission.  Wife,  put  out  all 
my  things  ready  for  me;  I  am  going  to  call  on  Monsieur 
Vauquelin,  you  know  why.  Above  all  things,  a  white  cravat." 

Birotteau  gave  some  orders  to  his  assistants ;  he  did  not  see 
Popinot,  guessed  that  his  future  partner  had  gone  to  dress  for 
the  visit,  and  went  up  at  once  to  his  own  room,  where  the 
Dresden  Madonna  met  his  eyes  in  a  magnificent  frame,  ac- 
cording to  his  orders. 

"  Well,  it  looks  fine,  doesn't  it  ?  " 

"  Why,  papa,  say  it  is  beautiful,  or  people  will  laugh  at 
you." 

"  Here  is  a  girl  for  you  that  scolds  her  father  ! Well, 

for  my  own  part,  I  like  '  Hero  and  Leander '  quite  as  much. 
The  '  Madonna '  is  a  religious  subject,  which  could  be  hung 
up  in  an  oratory ;  but  '  Hero  and  Leander !  '  Ah  !  I  will 
buy  it,  for  the  flask  of  oil  suggested  some  ideas  to  me." 

"But  I  don't  understand,  papa." 

"  Virginie,  call  a  cab!"  shouted  C6sar,  in  a  voice  that 
rang  through  the  house.  He  had  finished  shaving,  and  the 
shy  Anselme  Popinot  appeared,  dragging  his  feet,  for  he 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  109 

thought  of  C6sarine.  He  had  not  discovered,  as  yet,  that  he 
was  not  lame  in  the  eyes  of  his  lady-love,  a  sweet  proof  of  love, 
which  only  those  to  whom  fate  has  given  some  bodily  defor- 
mity can  receive. 

"The  press  will  be  in  working  order  to-morrow,  sir,"  he 
said. 

"  Very  well.  What  is  the  matter,  Popinot?  "  asked  Cesar, 
seeing  Anselme's  flushed  face. 

"  I  am  so  glad,  sir ;  I  have  found  a  place,  a  front  and  back 
store,  and  a  kitchen,  and  the  rooms  above,  and  a  wareroom, 
all  for  twelve  hundred  francs  a  year,  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq- 
Diamants." 

"We  must  have  an  eighteen  years'  lease  of  it,"  said  Bi- 
rotteau.  "  But  let  us  go  to  Monsieur  Vauquelin  and  we  can 
talk  on  the  way,"  and  Cesar  and*  Popinot  drove  away  under 
the  eyes  of  the  assistants,  who  were  at  a  loss  what  to  think 
of  such  magnificent  attire  and  so  unusual  a  portent  as  a  cab, 
ignorant  as  they  were  of  the  mighty  matters  that  occupied  the 
owner  of  the  Queen  of  Roses. 

"So  we  shall  soon  know  the  truth  about  the  hazelnuts!" 
said  the  perfumer. 

"Hazelnuts?"  queried  Popinot. 

"You  have  my  secret,  Popinot,"  said  the  perfumer;  "I 
let  slip  the  word  '  hazelnuts,'  and  that  tells  everything. 
Hazelnut  oil  is  the  only  oil  which  produces  any  effect  on  the 
hair ;  no  other  house  has  thought  of  it.  When  I  saw  the 
print  of  'Hero  and  Leander,'  I  said  to  myself,  'If  the  an- 
cients put  so  much  oil  on  their  heads,  there  must  have  been 
some  reason  for  it,'  for  the  ancients  are  the  ancients  !  In 
spite  of  modern  pretensions,  I  am  of  Boileau's  opinion  about 
the  ancients.  From  that  I  came  to  the  idea  of  hazelnuts, 
thanks  to  young  Bianchon,  the  medical  student,  your  relative; 
he  told  me  that  the  students  at  the  Ecole  put  hazelnut  oil  on 
their  mustaches  and  whiskers  to  make  them  grow.  All  we 
want  now  is  the  illustrious  Monsieur  Vauquelin's  approval. 


110  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Enlightened  by  him,  we  shall  not  deceive  the  public.  Only 
just  now  I  was  over  in  the  market  buying  the  raw  material  of 
a  saleswoman  there  ;  and  in  another  moment  I  shall  be  in  the 
presence  of  one  of  the  greatest  scientific  men  in  France  for 
the  quintessence  of  the  matter.  There's  sense  in  proverbs — 
extremes  meet.  Trade  is  the  intermediary  between  vegetable 
products  and  science,  you  see,  my  boy.  Angelique  Ma- 
dou  collects  the  material,  Vauquelin  distills  it,  and  we 
sell  an  essence.  Hazelnuts  are  worth  five  sous  the  pound, 
Monsieur  Vauquelin  will  increase  their  value  a  hundredfold, 
and  we  shall  perhaps  do  a  service  to  humanity ;  for,  if  vanity 
is  a  plague  of  man,  a  good  cosmetic  is  a  benefit." 

The  devout  admiration  with  which  Popinot  listened  to  the 
father  of  his  Cesarine  stimulated  Birotteau's  eloquence;  he 
indulged  in  the  crudest  rhetorical  display  that  a  Philistine's 
brain  can  devise. 

"Be  reverent,  Anselme,"  he  said,  as  they  reached  the 
street  in  which  Vauquelin  lived  ;  "we  are  about  to  enter  the 
sanctuary  of  science.  Put  the  '  Madonna '  in  evidence,  but 
without  making  any  parade  of  it,  on  a  chair  in  the  dining- 
room.  If  only  I  can  manage  to  say  what  I  want  to  say  without 
making  a  muddle  of  it!  "  cried  Birotteau  artlessly.  "Popi- 
not, that  man  produces  a  chemical  effect  on  me,  the  sound  of 
his  voice  makes  me  quite  hot  inside,  and  even  gives  me  a 
slight  colic.  He  is  my  benefactor,  Anselme,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  he  will  be  your  benefactor  too." 

Popinot  turned  cold  at  the  words,  set  down  his  feet  as  if 
he  were  treading  on  eggs,  and  looked  uneasily  around  the 
room. 

M.  Vauquelin  was  in  his  study  when  Birotteau  was  an- 
nounced. The  roan  of  science  knew  that  the  perfumer  was 
a  deputy-mayor  and  in  high  favor ;  he  received  his  visitor. 

"  So  you  do  not  forget  me  now  that  you  are  so  high  up  in 
the  world,"  he  said;  "well,  between  a  chemist  and  a  per- 
fumer there  is  but  a  hand's-breadth." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  Ill 

"  Alas  !  there  is  a  great  distance  between  your  genius  and 
a  plain  man  like  me,  sir ;  and,  as  for  what  you  call  '  being 
high  up  in  the  world,'  it  is  all  owing  to  you,  and  I  shall 
never  forget  it  in  this  world  or  the  next." 

"  Oh  !  in  the  next  we  shall  all  be  equal,  they  say,  cobblers 
and  kings." 

"  That  is  to  say,  those  kings  and  cobblers  who  have  lived 
piously,"  remarked  Birotteau. 

"Is  this  your  son?"  asked  Vauquelin,  looking  at  little 
Popinot,  who  was  beyond  expression  amazed  to  find  nothing 
extraordinary  in  the  study.  He  had  expected  to  see  prodig- 
ious marvels,  giant  engines,  vivified  substances,  and  metals 
flying  about. 

"  No,  sir ;  but  he  is  a  young  man  in  whom  I  am  very 
much  interested,  and  he  has  come  to  entreat  your  goodness, 
which  is  equal  to  your  talent,  and  is  it  not  infinite?"  re- 
marked Birotteau  diplomatically.  "We  have  come,  after  an 
interval  of  sixteen  years,  to  consult  you  a  second  time  on  a 
matter  of  importance,  concerning  which  I  am  as  ignorant  as 
a  perfumer." 

"  Let  us  hear  about  it.     What  is  it  ?  " 

"  I  know  that  the  subject  of  hair  occupies  your  nights,  and 
that  you  are  devoting  yourself  to  the  analysis  of  the  substance ! 
While  you  have  been  thinking  for  glory,  I  have  been  thinking, 
too,  for  trade." 

"  Dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,  what  do  you  want  of  me — an 
analysis  of  hair?" 

He  took  up  a  loose  sheet. 

"I  am  about  to  read  a  paper  before  the  Academic  des 
Sciences,"  he  went  on.  "  Hair  is  composed  of  a  somewhat 
large  proportion  of  mucus,  a  little  colorless  oil,  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  dark-greenish  oil,  and  iron  ;  I  find  a  certain  amount 
of  oxide  of  manganese,  and  of  phosphate  of  lime,  and  traces 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  silica ;  sulphur  enters  largely  into 
its  composition.  The  proportions  in  which  these  different 


112  CESAX   BIROTTEAU. 

substances  are  present  vary,  and  so  cause  the  different  color- 
ings of  hair.  Red  hair,  for  example,  on  analysis  yields  much 
more  of  the  dark-green  oil  than  the  other  kinds  give." 

Cesar  and  Popinot  opened  their  eyes  ludicrously  wide. 

"  Nine  things,"  cried  Birotteau.  "  What,  are  there  metals 
and  oils  in  hair  ?  It  takes  the  word  of  a  man  like  you,  whom 
I  venerate,  to  make  me  believe  it.  How  extraordinary ! 
God  is  great,  M.  Vauquelin." 

"  Hair  is  produced  by  a  follicular  organ,"  the  great  chemist 
continued  ;  "a  follicle  is  a  sort  of  bag  open  at  both  ends  ;  at 
the  one  end  it  is  connected  with  nerves  and  bloodvessels, 
and  the  hair  issues  from  the  other.  According  to  some  of 
our  learned  associates,  one  of  whom  is  Monsieur  de  Blainville, 
the  hair  is  dead  matter  expelled  from  the  sac  or  secreting 
gland,  which  is  full  of  a  pulpy  tissue." 

"It  is  like  perspiration  in  sticks,  as  you  might  say,"  cried 
Popinot,  for  which  the  perfumer  promptly  kicked  his  shins. 

Vauquelin  smiled  at  Popinot's  notion.  On  this,  "  He  has 
capacity,  hasn't  he?  "  said  C6sar,  looking  at  Popinot.  "  But 
if  hair  is  dead,  to  begin  with,  sir,  you  can't  possibly  restore 
it,  and  it  is  all  over  with  us  !  the  prospectus  is  nonsense  ! 
You  don't  know  how  funny  the  public  is;  you  can't  go  and 
tell  people " 

"  That  there  is  a  rubbish  heap  on  their  heads,"  said  Popi- 
not, trying  to  make  Vauquelin  laugh  again. 

"An  aerial  catacomb,"  returned  the  chemist,  keeping  up 
the  joke. 

"And  the  nuts  that  are  bought!  "  cried  Birotteau,  with  a 
lively  sense  of  the  pecuniary  loss.  "  But  why  do  they  sell 
such ?" 

"  Reassure  yourself,"  said  Vauquelin,  smiling.  "  I  see  some 
secret  for  preventing  the  hair  from  falling  out  or  turning  gray 
is  the  matter  in  question.  Listen ;  here  are  my  conclusions 
after  all  my  researches." 

Popinot  pricked  up  his  ears  at  this  like  a  startled  leveret. 


C£SAR  B1ROTTEAU.  113 

"The  blanching  of  the  fibres,  dead  or  alive,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  produced  by  an  interruption  of  the  secretion  of  the 
coloring  matter ;  this  theory  would  explain  the  fact  that  some 
fur-bearing  animals  in  cold  climates  turn  white,  or  some  lighter 
color,  at  the  beginning  of  winter." 

"Hm!  Popinot." 

"It  is  evident,"  Vauquelin  continued,  "that  the  change 
of  color  is  due  to  sudden  change  in  the  temperature  of  the 
circumambient  air " 

"  Circumambient,  Popinot — mind  that !  mind  that !  "  cried 
Cesar. 

"Yes,"  said  Vauquelin,  "to  alternations  of  cold  or  heat, 
or  to  interior  phenomena,  which  produce  the  same  effect.  So, 
in  all  probability,  headaches  and  other  local  affections  dissi- 
pate the  fluid  or  derange  the  secretions.  The  inside  of  the 
head  is  the  doctors'  province.  As  for  the  outside,  put  on 
your  cosmetics  by  all  means." 

"Well,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  "now  I  can  breathe  again 
after  what  you  say.  I  thought  of  selling  the  oil  of  hazelnuts, 
remembering  the  use  the  ancients  made  of  oil  for  their  hair ; 
and  the  ancients  are  the  ancients,  I  am  of  Boileau's  opinion. 
Why  did  wrestlers  oil  themselves ?" 

"  Olive  oil  would  do  quite  as  well  as  oil  of  hazelnuts,"  said 
Vauquelin,  who  had  paid  no  attention  to  Birotteau's  remarks. 
"  Any  oil  will  do  to  protect  the  hair-bulbs  from  outside  in- 
fluences injurious  to  the  substances  which  it  contains  in  pro- 
cess of  formation ;  in  course  of  deposit,  we  chemists  would 
say.  Perhaps  you  are  right ;  the  essential  oil  of  hazelnuts  is 
an  irritant,  so  Dupuytren  once  told  me.  I  will  try  to  find 
out  the  difference  between  walnut  and  beechnut  oils,  colza, 
olive,  and  so  forth." 

"Then  I  am  not  mistaken,"  Birotteau  exclaimed  triumph- 
antly, "and  a  great  man  bears  me  out  in  my  opinion.  Ma- 
cassar is  done  for !  Macassar,  sir,  is  a  cosmetic  they  give  you, 
that  is,  sell  you,  and  sell  very  dear,  to  make  your  hair  grow." 


114  C&SAR  BIKOTTEAU. 

"My  dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said  Vauquelin,  "there 
are  not  two  ounces  of  oil  of  Macassar  in  Europe.  Oil  of 
Macassar  produces  not  the  slightest  effect  on  hair.  The 
Malays  will  pay  its  weight  in  gold  for  it,  because  of  its  sup- 
posed preservative  action  on  the  hair,  not  knowing  that  whale 
oil  is  quite  as  good.  No  possible  power  whether  chemical  or 
divine " 

"Oh  !  divine — do  not  say  that,  Monsieur  Vauquelin." 

"Why,  my  dear  sir,  God's  first  law  is  conformity  with 
Himself;  without  unity  there  is  no  power " 

"Oh,  looked  at  in  that  way " 

"  No  power  whatever  can  make  the  hair  grow  on  a  bald 
head,  and  you  cannot  dye  white  or  red  hair  without  danger ; 
but  you  will  do  no  harm,  and  there  will  be  no  fraud  in  extol- 
ling your  oil,  and  I  think  that  those  who  use  it  might  preserve 
their  hair." 

"  Do  you  think  that  the  Royal  Academy  of  Science  would 
approve  it?" 

"Oh!  it  is  no  discovery,"  said  M.  Vauquelin.  "And, 
beside,  quacks  have  taken  the  name  of  the  Academy  in  vain 
so  often  that  it  would  not  help  you  at  all.  My  conscience 
will  not  allow  me  to  look  on  oil  of  hazelnuts  as  a  prodigy." 

"  What  would  be  the  best  way  of  extracting  it,  by  pressure 
or  by  decoction  ?  "  asked  Birotteau. 

"  You  will  obtain  the  most  oil  by  pressure  between  two  hot 
plates ;  but  if  the  plates  are  cold,  it  will  be  of  better  quality. 
It  ought  to  be  applied  to  the  skin  itself,  and  not  rubbed  into 
the  hair,"  continued  Vauquelin  very  good-naturedly,  "  or  the 
effect  will  be  lost." 

"Mind  you  remember  this,  Popinot,"  said  Birotteau,  as 
his  face  flushed  up  with  enthusiasm.  "You  see  in  him,  sir,  a 
young  man  who  will  reckon  this  day  among  the  great  days  of 
his  life.  He  knew  and  revered  you  before  he  had  seen  you. 
Ah  !  we  often  talk  of  you  at  home  ;  a  name  that  is  always  in 
the  heart  comes  often  to  the  lips.  We  pray  every  day  for 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  115 

you,  my  wife  and  daughter  and  I,  as  we  ought  to  do  for  our 
benefactor. ' ' 

"It  is  too  much  for  so  little,"  said  Vauquelin,  embarrassed 
by  the  perfumer's  voluble  gratitude. 

"  Tut,  tut,  tut !  "  said  Birotteau.  "You  cannot  hinder  us 
from  loving  you,  you  who  will  accept  nothing  from  me.  You 
are  like  the  sun ;  you  shed  light  around  you,  and  those  on 
whom  it  shines  can  do  nothing  for  you  in  return." 

The  man  of  science  rose,  smiling,  to  his  feet;  Birotteau 
and  Anselme  Popinot  rose  also. 

"  Look  around,  Anselme;  take  a  good  look  at  this  study. 
If  you  will  allow  him,  sir  ?  Your  time  is  so  valuable,  perhaps 
he  will  never  come  here  again." 

"Well,  are  you  satisfied  with  your  business?"  asked 
Vauquelin,  turning  to  Birotteau;  "for,  after  all,  we  are  both 
of  us  men  of  business " 

"  Pretty  well,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  going  toward  the  dining- 
room,  whither  Vauquelin  followed  him;  "but  it  will  take  a 
great  deal  of  capital  to  start  this  oil  under  the  name  of 
Comagen  Essence " 

"  '  Essence '  and  '  Comagen '  are  two  words  that  clash. 
Call  your  cosmetic  Birotteau's  Oil ;  or,  if  you  have  no  mind 

to  blaze  your  name  abroad,  take  another Why,  there  is 

the  Dresden  Madonna Ah  !  Monsieur  Birotteau,  you 

mean  us  to  fall  out  at  parting." 

"  Monsieur  Vauquelin,"  said  the  perfumer,  taking  both  the 
chemist's  hands  in  his,  "  the  scarce  print  has  no  value  save 
for  the  persistent  efforts  which  I  have  made  to  find  it ;  all 
Germany  has  been  ransacked  for  a  proof  before  letters  on 
India  paper;  I  knew  you  wished  to  have  it,  you  were  too 
busy  to  procure  it  yourself,  so  I  have  taken  it  upon  myself 
to  be  your  agent.  Please  accept,  not  a  paltry  print,  but  the 
earnest  efforts,  the  care,  and  pains  which  prove  a  boundless 
devotion.  I  should  have  been  glad  if  you  had  wanted  some 
substances  that  could  only  be  found  in  the  depths  of  an  abyss, 


116  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

that  I  might  come  to  tell  you,  '  Here  they  are  ! '  We  have 
so  many  chances  to  be  forgotten,  let  me  put  myself,  my 
wife,  and  daughter,  and  the  son-in-law  whom  I  shall  have  one 
day,  all  before  your  eyes ;  and  say  to  yourself  when  you  see 
the  Madonna,  '  There  are  honest  folk  who  think  of  me.'  " 

"I  accept  it,"  said  Vauquelin. 

Popinot  and  Birotteau  wiped  their  eyes,  so  much  moved 
were  they  by  the  kind  tone  in  which  the  chemist  spoke. 

"Will  you  carry  your  kindness  yet  further?"  asked  the 
perfumer. 

"  What  is  it  ?  "  asked  Vauquelin. 

"  I  am  inviting  a  few  of  my  friends — (here  he  raised  him- 
self on  tiptoe,  but  his  face  assumed  a  humble  expression) — 
partly  to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil,  and  partly  on  the 
occasion  of  my  own  promotion  to  the  Legion  of  Honor." 

"Aha!  "  said  Vauquelin  in  astonishment. 

"  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  worthy  of  this  signal 
mark  of  royal  favor  by  discharging  my  functions  at  the  Con- 
sular Tribunal  and  by  fighting  for  the  Bourbons  on  the  steps 
of  Saint-Roch's  church  on  the  i3th  of  Vend6miaire,  when  I 
was  wounded  by  Napoleon.  My  wife  is  giving  a  ball  on  Sun- 
day in  twenty  days'  time ;  will  you  come  to  it,  sir  ?  Do  us 
the  honor  of  dining  with  us  on  that  day ;  and,  for  my  own 
part,  it  will  be  as  if  they  had  given  me  the  cross  twice.  I 
will  write  to  you  in  good  time." 

"Very  well,  yes,"  said  Vauquelin. 

"  My  heart  is  swelling  with  pleasure,"  cried  the  perfumer 
when  they  were  in  the  street.  "  He  will  come  to  my  house  ! 
I  am  afraid  that  I  have  forgotten  what  he  said  about  hair;  do 
you  remember  it,  Popinot  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  and  in  twenty  years'  time  I  shall  still  remember 
it." 

"A  great  man,  that  he  is  !  What  insight  and  what  penetra- 
tion !  "  exclaimed  Birotteau.  "  He  went  straight  to  the 
point,  he  read  our  thoughts  at  once,  and  showed  us  how  to 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU:  117 

make  a  clean  sweep  of  Macassar  Oil.  Ah  !  nothing  can  make 
hair  grow,  Macassar,  so  that  is  a  lie  !  Popinot,  there  is  a 
fortune  within  our  grasp.  So  let  us  be  at  the  factory  by  seven 
o'clock  to-morrow  morning,  the  nuts  will  come  in,  and  we 
will  make  the  oil.  There  is  no  use  in  his  saying  that  any  oil 
will  do  ;  it  would  be  all  over  with  us  if  the  public  knew  that. 
If  there  were  not  a  little  hazelnut  oil  and  scent  in  this  compo- 
sition of  ours,  what  excuse  should  we  have  for  selling  it  at 
three  or  four  francs  for  as  many  ounces?  " 

"And  you  are  to  be  decorated,  sir  ?  "  said  Popinot.  "  What 
glory  for " 

"  For  commerce,  isn't  it,  my  boy?  " 

Cesar  Birotteau,  sure  of  a  fortune,  looked  so  triumphant 
that  the  assistants  noticed  his  expression  and  made  signs  to 
each  other ;  for  the  appearance  of  a  cab,  and  the  fact  that 
their  employer  and  his  cashier  had  changed  their  clothes,  had 
given  rise  to  the  wildest  imaginings.  The  very  evident  satis- 
faction of  the  pair,  revealed  by  the  diplomatic  glances  ex- 
changed between  them,  and  the  hopeful  eyes  that  Popinot 
turned  once  or  twice  on  Cdsarine,  announced  that  some  im- 
portant event  was  imminent,  and  confirmed  the  assistants' 
suspicions.  The  smallest  chance  events  in  their  busy  and 
almost  monastic  lives  were  as  interesting  to  them  as  to  any 
prisoner  in  solitary  confinement.  Mme.  Cesar's  face  (for  she 
responded  doubtfully  to  the  Olympian  looks  her  husband 
turned  on  her)  portended  some  new  development  in  the  busi- 
ness, for  at  any  other  time  Mme.  Cesar  would  have  been 
serenely  content — Mme.  Cesar,  who  was  so  blithe  over  a 
good  day,  and  to-day  the  takings  had  amounted  to  the  extra- 
ordinary sum  of  six  thousand  francs;  some  old  outstanding 
accounts  had  been  paid. 

The  dining-room  and  the  kitchen  were  both  on  the  mez- 
zanine floor,  where  Cesar  and  Constance  had  lived  during  the 
first  years  of  their  married  life.  This  dining-room,  where 
their  honeymoon  had  been  spent,  looked  like  a  little  drawing- 


118  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

room.  The  kitchen  windows  looked  out  into  a  little  yard ;  a 
passage  separated  the  two  rooms  and  gave  access  to  the  stair- 
case, contrived  in  a  corner  of  the  back-shop. 

Raguet,  the  errand  boy,  looked  after  the  store  while  they 
sat  at  dinner ;  but,  when  dessert  appeared,  the  assistants  went 
downstairs  again  and  left  Cesar  and  his  wife  and  daughter  to 
finish  their  meal  by  the  fireside.  This  tradition  had  been 
handed  down  from  the  days  of  the  Ragons,  who  had  kept  up 
all  the  old-fashioned  customs  and  usages  in  full  vigor,  and  set 
the  same  enormous  distance  between  themselves  and  the  as- 
sistants that  formerly  existed  between  masters  and  apprentices. 
C6sarine  or  Constance  would  then  prepare  the  cup  of  coffee, 
which  the  perfumer  took  in  a  low  chair  by  the  fire.  It  was 
the  hour  when  Cesar  told  his  wife  all  the  small  news  of  the 
day ;  he  would  tell  her  anything  that  he  had  seen  in  Paris,  or 
what  they  were  doing  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  and  about 
the  difficulties  that  arose  there. 

"  This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most  memorable  days  in  our 
lives,  wife  !  "  he  began,  when  the  assistants  had  gone  down- 
stairs. "The  hazelnuts  have  been  bought,  the  hydraulic  press 
will  be  ready  for  work  to-morrow,  the  matter  of  the  building 
lands  has  been  concluded.  And,  while  I  think  of  it,  just  put 
away  this  order  on  the  bank,"  he  went  on,  handing  over  to 
her  Pillerault's  draft.  "  The  redecoration  of  the  rooms,  our 
new  rooms,  has  been  settled.  Dear  me  !  I  saw  a  very  queer 
man  to-day  in  the  Cour  Batave  !  " 

And  he  told  the  women  about  M.  Molineux. 

"I  see,"  his  wife  broke  in,  in  the  middle  of  a  tirade, 
"that  you  will  have  to  pay  two  hundred  thousand  francs  !  " 

"  True,  my  wife,"  said  the  perfumer,  with  mock  humility. 
"  Good  Lord  !  and  how  are  we  to  pay  it  ?  for  the  building 
lands  near  the  Madeleine,  that  will  be  the  finest  quarter  of 
Paris  some  day,  must  be  taken  as  worth  nothing." 

"  Some  day,  Cdsar." 

"Dear,  dear  !  "  he  continued  his  joke — "my  three-eighths 


C&SAR  B2ROTTEAU.  119 

will  only  be  worth  a  million  in  six  years'  time.  And  how 
shall  we  pay  two  hundred  thousand  francs?"  asked  Cesar, 
making  as  though  he  were  aghast.  "  Well,  we  will  pay  it 
with  this,"  and  he  drew  from  his  pocket  one  of  Mme. 
Madou's  hazelnuts,  which  he  had  carefully  kept. 

He  held  it  up  between  his  thumb  and  finger.  Constance 
said  nothing ;  but  Cesarine,  whose  curiosity  was  tickled, 
brought  her  father  his  cup  of  coffee  with  a  "  Come,  now, 
papa,  are  you  joking?  " 

The  perfumer,  like  his  assistants,  had  noticed  the  glances 
Popinot  had  given  Cdsarine  during  dinner ;  he  meant  to  clear 
up  his  suspicions. 

"Well,  little  girl,  this  hazelnut  is  to  work  a  revolution  in 
the  house.  There  will  be  one  less  under  our  roof  after  to- 
night." 

Cesarine  looked  straight  at  her  father,  as  who  should  say, 
"What  is  that  to  me?" 

"  Popinot  is  going  away." 

Although  Cesar  was  a  poor  observer,  although  his  remark 
had  been  meant  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  announcement  of 
the  new  firm  of  A.  Popinot  and  Company,  as  well  as  for  a 
trap  for  his  daughter,  his  father's  tenderness  told  him  the 
secret  of  the  vague  emotions  which  sprang  up  in  the  girl's 
heart,  and  blossomed  in  red  upon  her  cheek  and  brow,  bright- 
ening her  eyes  before  they  fell.  Cesar  thought  at  once  that 
some  word  had  been  exchanged  between  Cesarine  and  Popi- 
not. Nothing  of  the  kind  had  happened ;  the  boy  and  girl 
understood  each  other,  after  the  fashion  of  shy  young  lovers, 
without  a  word. 

There  are  moralists  who  hold  that  love  is  the  most  involun- 
tary, the  most  disinterested  and  least  calculating  of  all  passions, 
a  mother's  love  always  excepted,  a  doctrine  which  contains  a 
gross  error.  The  larger  part  of  mankind  may  be  ignorant  of 
their  motives  ;  but  any  sympathy,  physical  or  mental,  is  none 
the  less  based  upon  calculations  made  by  brain  or  heart  or 


120  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

animal  instincts.  Love  is  essentially  an  egoistical  affection, 
and  egoism  implies  profound  calculation.  For  the  order  of 
mind  which  is  only  impressed  by  outward  and  visible  results, 
it  may  seem  an  improbable  or  unusual  thing  that  a  poor,  lame, 
red-haired  lad  should  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  a  beautiful 
girl  like  Cesarine ;  and  yet  it  was  only  what  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  workings  of  the  bourgeois  mind  in  matters 
of  sentiment.  The  explanation  would  account  for  other 
marriages  that  are  a  constant  source  of  amazement  to  on- 
lookers, between  tall  or  beautiful  women  and  insignificant 
men,  or  when  some  well-grown  stripling  marries  some  ugly 
little  creature. 

For  a  man  afflicted  with  any  physical  deformity,  be  it  a 
club-foot,  lameness,  a  hunch-back,  excessive  ugliness,  spot, 
blemish,  or  disfigurement,  Roguin's  infirmity,  or  other  anom- 
alous affection  for  which  his  progenitors  are  not  responsible, 
there  are  but  two  courses  open  :  he  must  either  make  himself 
feared  or  cultivate  an  exquisite  goodness — he  cannot  afford  to 
steer  an  undecided  middle  course  between  the  two  extremes 
like  the  rest  of  humanity.  The  first  alternative  requires  talent, 
genius,  or  force  of  character;  for  a  man  can  only  inspire 
terror  by  his  power  to  do  harm,  impose  respect  by  his  genius, 
or  compel  fear  by  his  prodigious  wit.  In  the  second  he 
studies  to  be  adored  ;  he  lends  himself  admirably  to  feminine 
tyranny,  and  is  wiser  in  love  than  others  of  irreproachable 
physical  proportions. 

Anselme  Popinet  had  been  brought  up  by  the  good  Ra- 
gons,  upright  citizens  of  the  best  type,  and  by  his  uncle 
the  judge — a  course  of  training  which,  with  his  ingenuous 
and  religious  nature,  had  led  him  to  redeem  his  slight  defor- 
mity by  the  perfection  of  his  character.  Constance  and 
Cesar,  struck  by  a  disposition  which  makes  youth  so  attract- 
ive, had  often  praised  Anselme  in  Cesarine' s  hearing.  With 
all  their  narrowness  in  other  respects,  this  storekeeper  and  his 
wife  possessed  nobility  of  soul,  and  hearts  that  were  quick  to 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  121 

comprehend.  Their  praises  found  an  echo  in  the  girl's  own 
heart ;  in  spite  of  her  inexperience  she  read  in  Anselme's 
frank  eyes  a  passion  that  is  always  flattering,  no  matter  what 
the  age,  rank,  or  figure  of  the  lover  may  be. 

Little  Popinot,  not  being  a  well-shaped  man,  had  all  the 
more  reasons  for  loving  a  woman.  Should  she  be  fair,  he 
would  be  her  lover  till  his  dying  day ;  love  would  give  him 
ambition ;  he  would  work  himself  to  death  to  make  his  wife 
happy;  he  would  suffer  her  to  be  the  sovereign  mistress  of 
his  home ;  and  her  empire  over  him  would  be  without  change 
and  boundless. 

This,  crudely  stated,  is  perhaps  what  Cesarine  thought,  un- 
consciously within  herself;  she  had  had  a  bird's-eye  glimpse 
of  the  harvests  of  love,  and  she  had  drawn  her  own  infer- 
ences; her  mother's  happiness  was  under  her  eyes,  she  wished 
no  other  life  for  herself;  instinctively  she  discerned  in  An- 
selme  another  Cesar,  polished  by  education,  as  she  herself 
had  been.  In  her  dreams,  Popinot  was  the  mayor  of  an 
arrondissement,  and  she  liked  to  imagine  herself  asking  for 
subscriptions  to  charities  in  her  district,  as  her  own  mother 
did  in  the  parish  of  Saint-Roch.  And  so  at  length  she  forgot 
that  one  of  Popinot's  legs  was  shorter  than  the  other,  and 
would  have  been  quite  capable  of  asking,  "  Does  he  really 
limp  ?  "  She  liked  the  clear  eyes ;  she  liked  to  see  the  change 
that  came  over  them  when,  at  a  glance  from  her,  they  lighted 
up  at  once  with  a  flash  of  timid  love,  and  then  fell  despond- 
ently again. 

Roguin's  head  clerk,  Alexandre  Crottat,  gifted  with  a  pre- 
cocious knowledge  of  the  world,  acquired  by  professional 
experience,  disgusted  Cesarine  with  his  half-cynical,  half- 
good-natured  air,  after  putting  her  out  of  patience  with  his 
commonplace  talk.  Popinot's  silence  revealed  a  gentle  na- 
ture ;  she  liked  to  watch  the  half-sad  smile  with  which  he 
endured  meaningless  trivialities  ;  the  babble  which  made  him 


122  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

smile  always  roused  a  feeling  of  annoyance  in  her;  they 
smiled  or  looked  condolence  at  each  other. 

Anselme's  mental  superiority  did  not  prevent  him  from 
working  hard  with  his  hands ;  the  way  in  which  he  threw 
himself  into  everything  that  he  did  also  pleased  Cesarine ; 
she  guessed  that  while  all  the  other  assistants  said,  "  Cesarine 
is  going  to  be  married  to  Monsieur  Roguin's  head  clerk," 
Anselme,  lame  and  poor  and  red-haired,  did  not  despair  of 
winning  her.  The  strength  of  a  hope  proves  the  strength  of 
a  love. 

"Where  is  he  going?"  Cesarine  asked,  trying  to  look  in- 
different. 

"He  is  going  to  set  up  for  himself  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq- 

Diamants  !  And,  upon  my  word,  by  the  grace  of  God  ! " 

But  neither  his  wife  nor  daughter  understood  the  ejaculation. 
When  Birotteau's  mind  encountered  any  difficulty,  he  behaved 
like  an  insect  that  encounters  an  obstacle,  he  swerved  to  left 
or  right ;  so  now  he  changed  the  subject,  promising  himself  to 
speak  of  Cesarine  to  his  wife. 

"  I  told  uncle  your  notions  about  Roguin  and  your  fears; 
he  began  to  laugh,"  he  went  on,  addressing  Constance. 

"  You  ought  never  to  repeat  things  that  we  say  between 
ourselves,"  she  cried.  "  Poor  Roguin  !  he  may  be  the  most 
honest  man  in  the  world ;  he  is  fifty-eight  years  old,  and  I 
expect  he  no  more  thinks " 

She  too  broke  off;  she  saw  that  Cesarine  was  listening,  and 
warned  Cesar  of  that  fact  by  a  glance. 

"  So  I  did  well  to  strike  the  bargain." 

"Why,  you  are  the  master,"  returned  she. 

Cesar  took  both  his  wife's  hands  in  his  and  kissed  her  on 
the  forehead.  That  answer  had  always  been  her  passive  form 
of  assent  to  her  husband's  projects.  And,  with  that,  Birotteau 
went  downstairs  into  the  store. 

"  Come  !  "  he  cried,  speaking  to  the  assistants,  "we  will 
put  up  the  shutters  at  ten  o'clock.  We  must  do  a  stroke  of 


C&SAR   B1ROTTEAU.  123 

work,  gentlemen  !  We  must  set  about  moving  all  the  furni- 
ture from  the  second  floor  to  the  third  to-night  !  We  shall 
have  to  put  the  little  pots  into  the  big  ones,  as  the  saying  is, 
so  as  to  give  my  architect  elbow-room  to-morrow.  Popinot 
has  gone  out  without  leave,"  said  Cesar,  looking  round. 
"  Oh  !  I  forgot,  he  does  not  sleep  here.  He  has  gone  to  see 
about  the  store,  or  else  he  is  putting  down  Monsieur  Vauque- 
lin's  ideas,"  he  thought. 

"We  know  why  the  furniture  is  being  moved,  sir,"  said 
Celestin,  spokesman  for  the  two  assistants  and  Raguet,  who 
stood  by  him.  "  May  we  be  allowed  to  congratulate  you  on 
an  honor  which  reflects  glory  on  the  whole  establishment? 
Popinot  told  us " 

"Well,  boys,  it  can't  be  helped;  I  have  been  decorated. 
So  we  are  inviting  a  few  friends,  partly  to  celebrate  the  libera- 
tion of  the  soil  and  partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  own  promo- 
tion to  the  Legion  of  Honor.  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown 
myself  worthy  of  this  signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by  the  dis- 
charge of  my  functions  at  the  Consular  Tribunal  and  by 
fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause — when  I  was  your  age — on  the 
steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the  i3th  of  Venddmiaire ;  and,  on 
my  word,  Napoleon  the  Emperor,  as  they  called  him,  gave 
me  my  wound.  For  I  was  wounded,  and  on  the  thigh,  what 
is  more,  and  Madame  Ragon  nursed  me.  Be  brave,  and  you 
will  be  rewarded  !  So  there,  you  see,  my  children,  that  a 
mishap  is  never  all  loss." 

"  People  don't  fight  in  the  streets  nowadays,"  said  Celestin. 

"Well,  we  must  hope,"  said  C6sar,  and  thereupon  he  took 
occasion  to  read  his  assistants  a  little  homily,  which  he 
rounded  off  with  an  invitation. 

The  prospect  of  a  dance  put  new  life  into  the  three  assist- 
ants ;  under  the  stimulus  of  the  excitement,  the  three,  with 
Virginie  and  Raguet,  performed  acrobatic  feats.  They  came 
and  went  up  and  down  the  stairs  with  their  loads,  and  nothing 
was  broken,  nothing  was  upset.  By  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 


124  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

ing  the  removal  was  accomplished ;  Cesar  and  his  wife  slept 
on  the  third  floor,  Celestin  and  the  second  assistant  occupied 
Popinot's  room.  The  fourth  floor  was  converted,  for  the  time 
being,  into  a  furniture  warehouse. 

When  the  assistants  had  gone  down  into  the  shop  after  din- 
ner, Popinot,  usually  so  quiet  and  equable,  had  been  as  fidgety 
as  a  race-horse  just  arrived  upon  the  course.  A  burning  desire 
to  do  something  great  was  upon  him,  induced  by  a  super- 
abundance of  nervous  fluid,  which  turns  the  diaphragm  of  the 
lover  or  the  man  of  restless  ambition  into  a  furnace. 

"  What  can  be  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  Celestin  had  asked. 

"What  a  day!  I  am  setting  up  for  myself,  my  dear  fel- 
low," he  whispered  in  Celestin's  ear,  "and  Monsieur  Cesar  is 
to  be  decorated." 

"You  are  very  lucky;  the  governor  is  helping  you,"  ex- 
claimed the  assistant. 

Popinot  gave  him  no  answer ;  he  vanished,  whirled  away 
by  the  wind — the  wind  of  success. 

"  Oh,  as  to  lucky !  "  said  an  assistant,  as  he  sorted  gloves 
in  dozens,  to  his  neighbor,  who  was  busy  checking  the  prices 
on  the  tickets.  "  The  governor  has  seen  the  eyes  that  Popinot 
has  been  making  at  Mademoiselle  C6sarine  ;  he  is  a  shrewd 
one,  the  governor,  so  he  is  getting  rid  of  Anselme  ;  it  would 
be  difficult  to  refuse  outright,  because  of  the  relatives.  Celes- 
tin takes  the  trick  by  this  generosity." 

Anselme  Popinot  meanwhile  had  turned  down  the  Rue 
Saint-Honor^  and  hurried  along  the  Rue  des  Deux-Ecus  to 
secure  some  one  in  whom  his  commercial  second-sight  beheld 
the  principal  instrument  of  success.  Judge  Popinot  had  once 
done  a  service  to  this  young  man,  the  cleverest  commercial 
traveler  in  Paris,  whose  activity  and  triumphant  gift  of  the  gab 
was  to  earn  for  him  at  a  later  day  the  title  of  "  The  Illustrious. " 
At  this  time  the  great  commercial  traveler  was  devoting  his 
energies  to  the  hat-trade  and  the  "  fancy-goods  line ;"  he  was 
simply  Gaudissart  as  yet,  without  the  prefix,  but  at  the  age  of 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  125 

twenty-two  he  had  already  distinguished  himself;  his  magnetic 
influence  upon  customers  was  beginning  to  be  recognized. 
He  was  thin  and  bright-eyed  at  that  time;  he  had  an  elo- 
quent face,  an  indefatigable  memory,  a  quick  perception  of 
the  taste  of  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact ;  he  deserved 
to  be,  what  he  afterward  became — the  king  of  commercial 
travelers,  the  Frenchman  par  excellence. 

Popinot  had  come  across  Gaudissart  some  days  previously, 
and  the  latter  had  announced  that  he  was  about  to  go  on  a 
journey ;  the  hope  of  finding  him  still  in  Paris  had  sent 
Popinot  flying  down  the  Rue  des  Deux-Ecus.  At  the  coach- 
office  he  learned  that  the  commercial  traveler  had  taken  his 
place.  Gaudissart's  leave-taking  of  his  beloved  city  had  taken 
the  shape  of  an  evening  at  the  Vaudeville,  where  there  was  a 
new  play.  Popinot  resolved  to  wait  for  him.  To  confide 
the  agency  of  the  hazelnut  oil  to  this  invaluable  launcher  of 
commercial  enterprise,  already  courted  and  cherished  by  the 
best  houses,  was  exactly  like  drawing  a  bill  of  exchange  on 
fortune ! 

Popinot  had  claims  on  Gaudissart.  The  commercial  trav- 
eler, so  skilled  in  the  art  of  entangling  that  forward  race,  the 
petty  country  storekeepers,  in  his  toils,  had  once  allowed 
himself  to  become  entangled  in  a  political  web,  in  the  first 
conspiracy  against  the  Bourbons  after  the  Hundred  Days; 
and  Gaudissart,  to  whom  open  air  was  a  vital  necessity,  found 
himself  in  prison  with  a  capital  charge  hanging  over  him. 
Judge  Popinot,  the  examining  magistrate,  saw  that  it  was  a 
piece  of  youthful  folly  that  implicated  Gaudissart  in  the  affair, 
and  set  him  at  liberty ;  but  if  the  young  man  had  chanced 
upon  a  magistrate  eager  to  commend  himself  to  the  authori- 
ties, or  upon  a  rabid  Royalist,  the  luckless  pioneer  of  com- 
merce might  have  mounted  the  scaffold.  Gaudissart,  who 
knew  that  he  owed  his  life  to  the  judge,  was  in  despair,  be- 
cause a  barren  gratitude  was  all  the  return  he  could  make ; 
and,  as  it  was  impossible  to  thank  a  judge  for  doing  justice, 


126  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

he  had  betaken  himself  to  the  Ragons,  and  there  sworn  fealty 
to  the  family  of  Popinot. 

While  Popinot  waited  he  naturally  spent  the  time  in  going 
to  see  his  store  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  once  more. 
He  asked  for  the  landlord's  address,  so  as  to  come  to  terms 
with  him  about  the  lease.  Then,  wandering  through  the 
murky  labyrinth  about  the  Great  Market,  with  his  thoughts 
full  of  ways  and  means  of  making  a  rapid  fortune,  Popinot 
came  into  the  Rue  Aubry-le-Boucher,  and  there  met  with  a 
wonderful  and  auspicious  opportunity,  with  which  Cesar's 
heart  should  be  gladdened  on  the  morrow.  Then  he  took  up 
his  post  at  the  door  of  the  Hotel  du  Commerce,  at  the  end  of 
the  Rue  des  Deux-Ecus ;  and  toward  midnight  heard,  afar  off, 
a  voice  uplifted  in  the  Rue  de  Crenelle ;  it  was  Gaudissart 
singing  a  bit  of  the  last  song  in  the  piece,  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  sound  of  a  walking-stick,  trailed  with  expression 
upon  the  pavement. 

"Sir,"  cried  Anselme,  suddenly  emerging  from  the  door- 
way, " can  I  have  a  couple  of  words  with  you? " 

"  Eleven,  if  you  like,"  said  the  other,  raising  a  loaded  cane. 

"  I  am  Popinot,"  said  poor  Anselme. 

"  Right,"  said  Gaudissart,  recognizing  his  friend.  "  What 
do  you  want  ?  Money  ?  Absent  on  leave,  but  there  is  some 
somewhere.  An  arm  for  a  duel  ?  I  am  at  your  service  from 
heel  to  head. 

" '  You  see  him  where  he  stands — 
Every  inch  a  Frenchman  and  a  soldier ! ' " 

"  Come  and  have  ten  minutes'  talk  with  me,  not  in  your 

room,  we  might  be  overheard,  but  on  the  Quai  de  1'Horloge ; 

there  is  nobody  there  at  this  time  of  night,"  said  Popinot, 

"  it  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  importance." 
"  You  are  in  a  hurry,  are  you  ?     Come  along  !  " 
Ten  minutes  later,  Gaudissart,  now  put  in    possession  of 

Popinot 's  secrets,  recognized  the  importance  of  the  matter. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  127 

"Approach,  ye  hairdressers  and  retail  perfumers,"  cried 
Gaudissart,  mimicking  Lafon  in  the  Cid.  "I  will  get  hold 
of  all  the  perfumers  of  France  and  Navarre.  Oh  !  I  have  it ! 
I  was  going  away,  but  I  shall  stop  here  now  and  take  agencies 
from  the  Parisian  perfumery  trade. ' ' 

"Why?" 

"  To  choke  off  your  competitors,  innocent !  By  taking  on 
their  agencies,  I  can  make  their  perfidious  cosmetics  drink  to 
their  own  confusion  in  your  oil,  for  I  shall  talk  of  nothing 
else  and  push  no  other  kind.  A  fine  commercial  traveler's 
dodge  !  Aha  !  we  are  the  diplomatists  of  commerce.  Fa- 
mous !  As  for  your  prospectus,  I  will  see  to  it.  I  have  known 
Andoche  Finot  since  we  were  boys ;  his  father  is  a  hatter  in  the 
Rue  du  Coq,  the  old  fellow  started  me ;  it  was  through  him 
that  I  began  to  travel  in  the  hat  line.  Andoche  is  a  very 
clever  fellow ;  he  has  the  cleverness  of  all  the  heads  that  his 
father  ever  fitted  with  hats.  He  is  in  the  literary  line;  he 
does  the  minor  theatres  for  the  '  Courrier  des  Spectacles.' 
His  father,  an  old  fox,  has  abundant  reason  for  not  liking 
cleverness  ;  he  doesn't  believe  in  cleverness  ;  it  is  impossible 
to  make  him  see  that  cleverness  will  sell,  and  that  a  young  man 
of  spirit  can  make  a  fortune  by  his  wits  ;  indeed,  as  to  spirit, 
the  only  spirit  he  approves  of  is  proof-spirit.  Old  Finot  is 
reducing  young  Finot  by  famine.  Andoche  can  do  anything, 
and  he  is  my  friend,  moreover,  and  I  don't  rub  against  fools 
(except  in  the  way  of  business).  Finot  does  mottoes  for  the 
'  Fidele  Berger,'  which  pays  him,  while  the  newspapers,  for 
which  he  works  like  a  galley-slave,  snub  him  right  and  left. 
How  jealous  they  are  in  that  line  !  It  is  just  like  it  is  in  the 
fancy  article  trade. 

"  Finot  wrote  a  splendid  one-act  comedy  for  Mademoiselle 
Mars,  the  greatest  of  the  great.  (Ah  !  there's  a  woman  that  I 
admire  !)  Well,  and  to  see  it  put  on  the  stage  at  all,  he  had 
to  take  it  to  the  Gaite".  Andoche  understands  prospectuses  ; 
he  enters  into  a  man's  ideas  about  business,  he  is  not  proud, 


128  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

he  will  block  out  our  prospectus  gratis.  Goodness !  we  will 
treat  him  to  a  bowl  of  punch  and  little  cakes ;  for  no  non- 
sense, Popinot ;  I  will  travel  for  you  without  commission  or 
expenses;  your  competitors  shall  pay  me,  I  will  bamboozle 
them.  Let  us  understand  each  other  clearly.  The  success 
of  this  thing  is  a  point  of  honor  with  me ;  my  reward  shall 
be  to  be  best-man  at  your  wedding !  I  will  go  to  Italy, 
Germany,  and  England  !  I  will  take  placards  in  every  lan- 
guage with  me  and  have  them  posted  up  everywhere,  in  the 
villages,  at  church-doors,  and  in  all  good  situations  that  I 
know  in  country  towns !  The  oil  shall  make  a  blaze ;  it 
shall  be  on  every  head  !  Ah  !  your  marriage  will  not  be  a 
marriage  in  water-colors ;  it  shall  be  done  in  oils !  You  shall 
have  your  Cesarine,  or  I  am  not  'The  Illustrious,'  a  nickname 
old  Finot  gave  me  because  I  made  a  success  of  his  gray  hats. 
I  shall  be  sticking  to  my  own  line,  too,  the  human  head ;  oil 
and  hats,  as  is  well  known,  are  meant  to  preserve  the  hair  of 
the  public." 

Popinot  went  to  his  aunt's  house,  where  he  was  to  spend 
the  night,  in  such  a  fever,  brought  on  by  visions  of  success, 
that  the  streets  seemed  to  him  to  be  rivers  of  oil.  He  scarcely 
slept  at  all,  dreamed  that  his  hair  was  growing  at  a  furious 
rate,  and  beheld  two  angels,  who  unrolled  above  his  head  a 
scroll  (as  in  a  pantomime),  whereon  the  words  "  Cesarian 
Oil"  were  written;  and  he  awoke,  but  remembered  his 
dream,  and  determined  to  give  the  name  to  the  oil  of  hazel- 
nuts.  He  saw  the  will  of  heaven  revealed  in  this  fancy. 

Cesar  and  Popinot  were  both  at  the  factory  in  the  Faubourg 
du  Temple  long  before  the  hazelnuts  arrived.  While  they 
waited  for  Mme.  Madou's  porters,  Popinot  in  high-glee  told 
the  whole  history  of  his  treaty  of  alliance  with  Gaudissart  the 
Great. 

"  We  have  the  illustrious  Gaudissart  for  us ;  we  shall  be 
millionaires  !  "  cried  the  perfumer,  holding  out  a  hand  to  his 


C&SAR   BIROTTEAU.  129 

cashier,  with  the  air  of  Louis  XIV.  receiving  a  Marechal  de 
Villairs  after  Denain. 

"And  yet  another  thing,"  said  the  happy  assistant,  drawing 
a  bottle  from  his  pocket,  a  gourd-shaped  flask,  flattened  so  as 
to  present  several  sides.  "  I  have  found  ten  thousand  bottles 
like  this  one,  ready  made  and  washed,  at  four  sous  and  six 
months'  credit." 

"Anselme,"  said  Birotteau,  beholding  this  marvel,  "  yes- 
terday "  (here  his  voice  grew  solemn),  "yesterday,  in  the 
garden  of  the  Tuileries — yes,  no  longer  ago  than  yesterday — 
your  words  to  me  were,  '  I  shall  succeed.'  To-day  I  myself 
say  to  you,  '  You  will  succeed  ! '  Four  sous  !  Six  months  ! 
An  entirely  new  shape!  Macassar  is  shaking  in  his  shoes; 
what  a  death-blow  for  Macassar !  What  a  good  thing  that  I 
have  bought  up  all  the  nuts  I  could  lay  my  hands  on  in  Paris  ! 
But  where  did  you  find  these  bottles  ?  " 

"I  was  waiting  to  speak  to  Gaudissart,  and  sauntering 
about " 

"Just  as  I  once  did  !  "  exclaimed  Birotteau. 

"And  as  I  went  down  the  Rue  Aubry-le-Boucher,  I  saw  a 
wholesale  glass-merchant's  place,  a  dealer  in  bell-glasses  and 

glass  shades,  who  has  a  very  large  stock ;  I  saw  this  bottle 

Oh  !  it  stared  me  in  the  face  like  a  flash  of  light ;  something 
said,  '  Here  is  the  thing  for  you  ! '  " 

"A  born  merchant  !  He  shall  have  my  daughter,"  mut- 
tered Cesar. 

"  In  I  went,  and  saw  thousands  of  the  bottles  standing  there 
in  boxes." 

"  Did  you  ask  him  about  them  ?  " 

"You  do  not  think  me  such  a  ninny!"  cried  Anselme, 
grieved  at  the  thought. 

"Born  merchant !  "  repeated  Birotteau. 

"  I  went  in  to  ask  for  glass  shades  for  little  wax  statuettes. 
While  I  was  bargaining  for  the  glass  shades,  I  found  fault  with 
the  shape  of  these  bottles.  That  led  to  a  general  confession  ; 
9 


130  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

my  bottle  merchant  went  from  one  thing  to  another,  and  told 
me  that  Faille  and  Bouchot,  who  failed  lately,  were  about  to 
bring  out  a  cosmetic,  and  wanted  an  out-of-the-way  shape. 
He  distrusted  them ;  he  wanted  half  the  money  down ;  Faille 
and  Bouchot,  hoping  for  a  success,  parted  with  the  money, 
and  the  failure  came  out  while  the  bottles  were  being  made. 
When  they  put  in  a  claim  to  the  trustees  for  the  rest,  the 
trustees  compromised  the  matter  by  leaving  them  with  all  the 
bottles  and  half  the  money  that  had  been  paid,  as  an  indemnity 
for  goods  which  they  said  were  absurdly  shaped  and  im- 
possible to  dispose  of.  The  bottles  cost  him  eight  sous,  and 
he  would  be  glad  to  let  any  one  have  them  for  four.  He 
might  have  them  on  his  hands  for  heaven  knew  how  long ; 
there  was  no  sale  for  such  a  shape.  '  Will  you  engage  to  supply 
ten  thousand  at  four  sous  ?  I  can  take  the  bottles  off  your 
hands ;  I  am  Monsieur  Birotteau's assistant.'  And  so  I  opened 
up  the  subject,  and  drew  him  out,  led  him  on,  and  put  pres- 
sure on  my  man,  and  he  is  ours." 

"Four  sous!  "  said  Birotteau.  "Do  you  know  that  we 
can  bring  out  the  oil  at  three  francs,  and  make  thirty  sous, 
leaving  twenty  to  the  retailers?  " 

"  The  Cesar ian  Oil !  "  cried  Popinot. 

"  Cesarian  Oil? Ah,  master  lover,  you  have  a  mind 

to  flatter  father  and  daughter.  Very  well ;  let  it  be  Cesarian 
Oil  if  you  like.  The  Caesars  conquered  the  world ;  they 
must  have  had  famous  heads  of  hair." 

"  Csesar  was  bald,"  said  Popinot. 

"Because  he  did  not  use  our  oil,  people  will  say.  The 
Cesarian  Oil  at  three  francs ;  Macassar  Oil  costs  twice  as 
much.  Gaudissart  is  in  it;  we  shall  make  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  a  year,  for  we  will  set  down  all  heads  that  respect  them- 
selves for  a  dozen  bottles  every  twelvemonth  ;  eighteen  francs 
of  profit !  Say  there  are  eighteen  thousand  heads — a  hundred 
and  forty-four  thousand  francs.  We  shall  be  millionaires." 

When  the  hazelnuts  arrived,  Raguet  and  the  work-people, 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  131 

with  Popinot  and  Cesar,  cracked  the  shells,  and  a  sufficient 
quantity  was  pressed.  In  four  hours'  time  they  had  several 
pounds  weight  of  oil.  Popinot  took  some  of  it  to  Vauquelin, 
who  presented  him  with  a  formula  for  diluting  the  essential 
oil  with  a  less  expensive  medium  and  for  perfuming  it.  Pop- 
inot straightway  took  steps  for  taking  out  a  patent  for  the  in- 
vention and  the  improvement.  It  was  Popinot's  ambition  to 
pay  his  share  of  the  expense  of  starting  the  enterprise,  and 
the  devoted  Gaudissart  lent  the  money  for  the  deposit. 

Prosperity  has  an  intoxicating  effect,  which  always  turns 
weak  heads.  One  result  of  this  uplifted  state  of  mind  is 
readily  foreseen.  Grindot  came.  He  brought  with  him  a 
sketch  in  water-colors  of  a  charming  interior,  the  design  for 
the  future  rooms  when  furnished.  Birotteau  was  carried  away 
by  it.  He  agreed  to  everything,  and  the  workmen  began  at 
once;  every  stroke  of  the  pickaxe  drew  groans  from  the 
house  and  from  Constance.  The  painter,  M.  Lourdois,  a 
very  wealthy  contractor,  who  engaged  to  leave  nothing  un- 
done, talked  of  gilding  the  drawing-room.  Constance  inter- 
posed at  this. 

"  Monsieur  Lourdois,"  said  she,  "  you  have  thirty  thousand 
francs  a  year  of  your  own ;  you  live  in  your  own  house,  and 
you  can  do  what  you  like  in  it ;  but  for  people  like  us " 

"  Madame,  commerce  ought  to  shine;  it  should  not  suffer 
itself  to  be  eclipsed  by  the  aristocracy.  Beside,  here  is  Mon- 
sieur Birotteau  in  the  Government ;  he  is  a  public  man " 

"Yes,  but  he  is  still  in  the  store,"  said  Constance  aloud, 
before  the  assistants  and  her  five  auditors  ;  "  neither  he,  nor 
I,  nor  his  friends,  nor  his  enemies  will  forget  that." 

Birotteau  raised  himself  on  tiptoe  several  times,  with  his 
hands  clasped  behind  his  back. 

"  My  wife  is  right,"  said  he.  "  We  will  be  modest  in 
prosperity.  Beside,  so  long  as  a  man  is  in  business,  he  ought 
to  be  careful  of  his  expenses  and  to  keep  them  within 
bounds;  indeed,  he  is  bound  by  law  not  to  indulge  in  'ex- 


132  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

cessive  expenditure.'  If  the  enlargement  of  my  premises 
and  the  amount  spent  on  the  alterations  exceed  a  certain 
limit,  it  would  be  imprudent  in  me  to  go  beyond  it ;  you 
yourself  would  blame  me,  Lourdois.  The  quarter  has  its  eyes 
upon  me;  successful  people  are  looked  upon  jealously  and 
envied.  Ah  !  you  will  soon  know  that,  young  man,"  he  said, 
addressing  Grindot ;  "  if  they  slander  us,  at  any  rate  let  us 
give  them  no  cause  to  say  evil  of  us." 

"Neither  slander  nor  spite  can  touch  you,"  said  Lourdois; 
"your  position  makes  an  exception  of  you;  and  you  have 
had  such  a  great  experience  of  business  that  you  know  how 
to  always  keep  your  affairs  within  due  limits.  You  are  very 
shrewd,  monsieur." 

"I  have  had  some  experience  of  business  it  is  true;  do 
you  know  the  reason  why  we  are  enlarging  our  house  ?  If  I 
exact  a  heavy  penalty  to  secure  punctuality  it  is " 

"  No." 

"Well,  then,  my  wife  and  I  are  inviting  a  few  friends, 
partly  to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil,  partly  on  the 
occasion  of  my  promotion  to  the  Order  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor." 

"What,  what?"  cried  Lourdois.  "Have  they  given  you 
the  cross  ? ' ' 

"  Yes.  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  worthy  of  this 
signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by  discharging  my  functions  at 
the  Consular  Tribunal  and  by  fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause 
on  the  1 3th  of  Vendemiaire  at  Saint-Roch,  when  I  was 
wounded  by  Napoleon.  Will  you  come  and  bring  your  wife 
and  your  young  lady ?" 

"  Enchanted  by  the  honor  you  condescend  to  bestow  upon 
me,"  said  Lourdois,  a  Liberal.  "  But  you  are  a  droll  fellow, 
Birotteau ;  you  mean  to  make  sure  that  I  shall  keep  my  word, 
and  that  is  why  you  ask  me  to  come.  Well,  well ;  I  will  set 
my  best  workmen  on  to  it ;  we  will  have  roaring  fires  to  dry 
the  paint  and  use  drying  processes,  for  it  will  not  do  to  dance 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  133 

in  a  room  full  of  steam  from  the  damp  plaster.     The  surface 
shall  be  varnished,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  smell." 

Three  days  later,  the  announcement  of  Birotteau's  forth- 
coming ball  created  a  flutter  in  the  commercial  world  of  that 
quarter.  And  not  only  so,  every  one  could  see  for  himself 
the  timber  props,  necessitated  by  the  hurried  alteration  of  the 
staircase,  and  the  square  wooden  shaft-holes,  through  which 
the  rubbish  was  shot  into  the  carts  beneath.  The  men  in 
their  haste  worked  by  torchlight,  for  they  had  a  night-and- 
day  shift,  and  this  collected  idlers  and  inquisitive  gazers  in 
the  street.  On  such  preparations  as  these,  the  gossip  of  the 
neighborhood  reared  sumptuous  fabrics  of  conjecture. 

On  the  Sunday,  when  the  documents  relative  to  the,  build- 
ing land  were  to  be  signed,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon  and  Uncle 
Pillerault  came  at  four  o'clock,  after  vespers.  C6sar  said  that, 
as  the  house  was  so  much  pulled  to  pieces,  he  could  only  ask 
Charles  Claparon,  Roguin,  and  Crottat  for  that  day.  The 
notary  brought  a  copy  of  the  "  Journal  des  Debats,"  in 
which  M.  de  la  Billardidre  had  inserted  the  following  para- 
graph : 

"  We  hear  that  the  liberation  of  the  soil  will  be  celebrated 
with  enthusiasm  throughout  France  ;  but,  in  Paris,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  municipal  administration  have  felt  that  the  time 
had  come  for  reviving  the  splendor  of  the  capital,  which  has 
been  eclipsed  during  the  foreign  occupation  from  a  feeling  of 
patriotism.  Each  of  the  mayors  and  deputy-mayors  proposes 
to  give  a  ball,  so  that  the  winter  season  promises  to  be  a  very 
brilliant  one,  and  the  National  movement  will  be  followed  up. 
Among  the  many  fgtes  about  to  take  place  is  the  much-talked- 
of  ball  to  be  given  by  M.  Birotteau,  recently  nominated  for 
the  Legion  of  Honor,  and  so  widely  known  for  his  devotion 
to  the  Royalist  cause.  M.  Birotteau,  wounded  in  the  affair 
of  Saint-Roch  on  the  i3th  of  Vendemiaire,  and  one  of  the 


134  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

most  highly  respected  judges  of  the  Consular  Tribunal,  has 
doubly  deserved  this  distinction." 

"How  well  they  write  nowadays!"  exclaimed  C£sar. 
"  They  are  talking  about  us  in  the  paper,"  he  added,  turning 
to  Pillerault. 

"Well,  and  what  of  that?"  returned  the  uncle,  who  par- 
ticularly detested  the  "Journal  des  Debats." 

"  Perhaps  the  paragraph  may  sell  some  of  the  Pate  des  Sul- 
tanes  and  the  Toilet  Lotion,"  said  Mme.  Cesar  in  a  low  voice 
to  Mme.  Ragon.  Mme.  Birotteau  did  not  share  her  husband's 
exhilaration. 

Mme.  Ragon,  a  tall,  thin  woman,  with  a  sharp  nose  and 
thin  lips,  looked  a  very  fair  imitation  of  a  marquise  of  the 
ancien  regime.  A  somewhat  wide  margin  of  red  encircled  her 
eyes,  as  sometimes  happens  with  aged  women  who  have  known 
many  troubles.  Her  fine  austere  face,  in  spite  of  its  kindli- 
ness, was  dignified,  and  there  was,  moreover,  a  quaint  some- 
thing about  her  which  struck  beholders,  yet  did  not  excite  a 
smile,  a  something  interpreted  by  her  manner  and  her  dress. 
She  wore  mittens ;  she  carried  in  all  weathers  a  cane  umbrella, 
such  as  Marie  Antoinette  used  at  the  Trianon ;  her  favorite 
color  was  that  particular  pale  shade  of  brown  known  i&feuille- 
morte  (dead  leaves) ;  her  skirts  hung  from  her  waist  in  folds, 
which  will  never  be  seen  again,  for  the  dowager  ladies  of  a 
bygone  day  have  taken  their  secret  with  them.  Mme.  Ragon 
had  not  given  up  the  black  mantilla  bordered  with  square- 
meshed  black  lace ;  the  ornaments  in  her  old-fashioned  caps 
reminded  you  of  the  filigree  work  on  old  picture-frames.  She 
took  snuff  with  the  dainty  neatness  and  the  little  gestures 
which  a  younger  generation  may  recall,  if  they  have  been  so 
fortunate  as  to  see  their  great-aunt  or  grandmother  solemnly 
set  her  gold  snuff-box  on  the  table  beside  her,  and  shake  the 
stray  grains  from  her  fichu. 

The  Sieur  Ragon  was  a  little  man,  five  feet  high  at  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  135 

most,  with  a  countenance  of  the  nutcracker  type.  Two  eyes 
were  visible,  two  prominent  cheek-bones,  a  nose,  and  a  chin. 
As  he  had  lost  his  teeth,  he  mumbled  half  his  words,  but  he 
talked  like  a  brook,  politely,  somewhat  pompously,  and  always 
with  a  smile — the  same  smile  with  which  he  had  greeted  the 
fair  ladies  of  quality  whom  one  chance  or  another  brought  to 
his  store.  His  hair,  tightly  scraped  back  from  his  forehead 
and  powdered,  described  a  snowy  half-moon  on  his  head,  with 
a  pair  of  "pigeon's  wings"  on  either  side  of  a  neat  queue 
tied  with  ribbon.  He  wore  a  cornflower-blue  coat,  a  white 
vest,  silk  breeches  and  stockings,  black  silk  gloves,  and  shoes 
with  gold  buckles  to  them.  The  most  peculiar  thing  about 
him  was  his  habit  of  walking  out  in  the  street  hat  in  hand. 
He  looked  rather  like  a  messenger  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers 
or  some  usher-in-waiting  at  the  palace — one  of  those  attendant 
satellites  of  some  great  power,  which  shine  with  a  reflected 
glory  and  remain  intrinsically  insignificant. 

"Well,  Birotteau,"  he  remarked,  and  from  his  tone  he 
might  have  been  addressing  an  assistant,  "  are  you  sorry  now, 
my  boy,  that  you  took  our  advice  in  those  days?  Did  we 
ever  doubt  the  gratitude  of  our  beloved  royal  family?" 

"You  must  be  very  happy,  my  dear,"  said  Mme.  Ragon, 
addressing  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  returned  the  fair  Constance,  who  always 
fell  under  the  charm  of  that  cane  umbrella,  those  butterfly 
caps,  those  tight-fitting  sleeves,  and  the  ample  fichu  a  la  Julie 
that  Mme.  Ragon  wore. 

"Cesarine  looks  charming.  Come  here,  pretty  child," 
said  Mme.  Ragon.  She  spoke  in  a  patronizing  manner  and 
with  a  high  head-voice. 

"  Shall  we  settle  the  business  before  dinner  ?  "  asked  Uncle 
Pillerault. 

"We  are  waiting  for  Monsieur  Claparon,"  said  Roguinj 
"he  was  dressing  when  I  left  him." 

"  Monsieur   Roguin,"  Cesar  began,   "does  he  quite  tin- 


136  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

derstand  that  we  are  to  dine  to-day  in  a  wretched  little  entre- 
sol  " 

("Sixteen  years  ago  he  thought  it  magnificent,"  murmured 
Constance.) 

"Among  the  rubbish,  and  with  all  the  workmen  about?" 

"  Pooh  !  you  will  find  him  a  good  fellow,  and  not  hard  to 
please,"  said  Roguin. 

"I  have  left  Raguet  to  look  after  the  store;  we  cannot 
come  in  and  out  of  our  own  door  now ;  as  you  have  seen,  it 
has  all  been  pulled  down,"  C6sar  returned. 

"Why  did  you  not  bring  your  nephew?"  asked  Pillerault 
of  Mme.  Ragon. 

"Shall  we  see  him  later?"  suggested  Cesarine. 

"No,  darling,"  said  Mme.  Ragon.  "Anselme,  dear  boy, 
is  working  himself  to  death.  I  am  afraid  of  that  close  street 
where  the  sun  never  shines,  that  vile-smelling  Rue  des  Cinq- 
Diamants ;  the  gutter  is  always  black  or  blue  or  green.  I 
am  afraid  he  may  die  there.  But  when  young  people  set  their 

minds  upon  anything !"  she  said,  turning  to  Cesarine 

with  a  gesture  that  interpreted  "mind"  as  "heart." 

"Then,  has  the  lease  been  signed?"  asked  Cesar. 

"Yesterday,  before  a  notary,"  Ragon  replied.  "  He  has 
taken  the  place  for  eighteen  years,  but  he  pays  the  rent  six 
months  in  advance." 

"Well,  Monsieur  Ragon,  are  you  satisfied  with  me?" 
Birotteau  asked.  "  I  have  given  him  the  secret  of  a  new  dis- 
covery— in  fact ! ' ' 

"We  know  you  by  heart,  C£sar,"  said  little  Ragon,  taking 
Cesar's  hands  and  pressing  them  with  devout  friendliness. 

Roguin  meanwhile  was  not  without  inward  qualms.  Cla- 
paron  was  about  to  appear  on  the  scene,  and  his  habits  and 
manner  of  talking  might  be  something  of  a  shock  to  these  re- 
spectable citizens.  He  thought  it  necessary  to  prepare  their 
minds,  and  spoke,  addressing  Ragon,  Pillerault,  and  the 
women. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  137 

"  You  will  see  an  eccentric  character,"  he  said  ;  "he  hides 
his  talents  beneath  shocking  bad  manners;  his  ideas  have 
raised  him  from  a  very  low  position.  No  doubt  he  will  ac- 
quire better  tastes  in  the  society  of  bankers.  You  might 
come  across  him  slouching  half-fuddled  along  the  boulevard 
or  in  a  cafe  playing  at  billiards ;  he  looks  like  a  great  hulking 
idiot.  But  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  he  is  thinking  all  the  time, 
pondering  how  to  put  life  into  trade  by  new  ideas." 

"I  can  understand  that,"  said  Birotteau ;  "my  best  ideas 
came  to  me  while  I  was  sauntering  about,  didn't  they,  dear?" 

"  Claparon  makes  up  for  lost  time  at  night,  after  spending 
the  daytime  in  meditating  over  business  combinations.  All 
these  very  clever  people  lead  queer  inexplicable  lives,"  Roguin 
continued.  "Well,  with  all  his  desultory  ways,  he  gains  his 
end,  as  I  can  testify.  He  made  all  the  owners  of  our  build- 
ing land  give  way  at  last ;  they  were  not  willing,  they  de- 
murred at  this  and  that ;  he  mystified  them — tired  them  out ; 
day  after  day  he  went  to  see  them,  and  this  time  the  lots  are 
ours." 

A  peculiar  sounding  broum  !  broum  !  characteristic  of  drink- 
ers of  strong  waters  and  spirits,  announced  the  arrival  of  the 
most  grotesque  personage  in  this  story — who  was  in  the  future 
to  enact  the  part  of  the  arbiter  of  Cesar's  destinies.  The 
perfumer  hurried  down  the  narrow,  dark  staircase,  partly  to 
tell  Raguet  to  close  the  store,  partly  to  make  his  excuses  for 
receiving  Claparon  in  the  dining-room. 

"Eh,  what?  Oh,  it  will  do  very  well  for  stowing  the 
vict ,  I  mean  for  doing  business  in." 

In  spite  of  Roguin's  skillful  opening,  the  entrance  of  the 
sham  great  banker  at  once  produced  an  unpleasant  impression 
upon  those  well-bred  citizens,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon,  upon 
the  observant  Pillerault,  and  upon  Cesarine  and  her  mother. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  or  thereabouts,  the  former  com- 
mercial traveler  had  not  a  hair  on  his  head,  and  wore  a  wig 
of  corkscrew  curls.  Such  a  manner  of  dressing  the  hair  de- 


138  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

mands  a  girlish  freshness,  a  milk-white  skin,  and  the  daintiest 
feminine  charm ;  so  it  brought  out  all  the  vulgarity  of  a 
pimpled  countenance,  a  dark-red  complexion,  flushed  like  that 
of  a  stage  coachman,  and  covered  with  premature  wrinkles 
and  deeply-cut  grotesque  lines  which  told  of  a  dissolute  life  ; 
its  ill  effects  could  be  read  only  too  plainly  in  the  bad  state 
of  his  teeth  and  the  black  specks  dotted  over  the  shriveled 
skin. 

There  was  something  about  Claparon  that  suggested  the 
provincial  actor  who  frequents  fairs,  and  is  prepared  to  play 
any  and  every  part,  to  whose  worn,  shrunken  cheeks  and 
flabby  lips  the  paint  refuses  to  adhere ;  the  tongue  always 
wagging  even  when  the  man  is  drunk ;  the  shameless  eyes, 
the  compromising  gestures.  Such  a  face  as  this,  lighted  up 
by  the  hilarious  flames  of  punch,  little  befitted  a  man  accus- 
tomed to  important  business.  Indeed,  only  after  prolonged 
and  necessary  studies  in  mimicry  had  Claparon  succeeded  in 
adopting  a  manner  not  wholly  out  of  keeping  with  his  sup- 
posed importance.  Du  Tillet  had  assisted  personally  at  Cla- 
paron's  toilet,  anxious  as  a  nervous  manager  over  the  first  ap- 
pearance of  his  principal  actor,  for  he  trembled  lest  the  vicious 
habits  of  a  reckless  life  should  appear  through  the  veneer  of 
the  banker. 

"Say  as  little  as  you  can,"  said  his  mentor;  "a  banker 
never  babbles;  he  acts,  thinks,  meditates,  listens,  and  pon- 
ders. So,  to  look  like  a  real  banker,  you  must  either  not 
speak  at  all  or  say  insignificant  things.  Keep  these  ribald 
eyes  of  yours  quiet;  look  solemn  at  the  risk  of  looking  stupid. 
In  politics,  be  for  the  Government,  but  keep  to  generalities, 
such  as — '  There  is  a  heavy  budget ;  compromise  as  parties 
stand  is  out  of  the  question ;  Liberalism  is  dangerous ;  the 
Bourbons  ought  to  avoid  all  collisions ;  Liberalism  is  a  cloak 
to  hide  the  schemes  of  the  coalition ;  the  Bourbons  are  inau- 
gurating an  epoch  of  prosperity,  so  let  us  give  them  our  sup- 
port, whether  we  are  well  affected  to  them  or  not ;  France 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  139 

has  had  enough  of  political  experiments,1  and  the  like.  And 
don't  sprawl  over  all  the  tables;  remember  that  you  have  to 
sustain  the  dignity  of  a  millionaire.  Don't  snort  like  a  pen- 
sioner when  you  take  snuff;  play  with  your  snuff-box  and  look 
at  your  boots  or  at  the  ceiling  before  you  give  an  answer;  look 
as  wise  as  you  can,  in  fact.  Above  all  things,  rid  yourself  of 
your  unlucky  habit  of  fingering  everything.  In  society  a 
banker  ought  to  look  as  if  he  were  glad  to  let  his  fingers  rest. 
And  look  here  !  you  work  at  night,  you  are  stupid  with 
making  calculations,  there  are  so  many  things  to  consider  in 
the  starting  of  an  enterprise  !  so  much  thinking  is  involved  ! 
Grumble,  above  all  things,  and  say  that  trade  is  very  bad. 
Trade  is  dull,  slow,  hard  to  move,  perplexing.  Keep  to  that, 
and  let  particulars  alone.  Don't  begin  to  sing  drolleries  of 
Beranger's  at  table,  and  don't  drink  too  much  ;  you  will  ruin 
your  prospects  if  you  get  tipsy.  Roguin  will  keep  an  eye  on 
you ;  you  are  going  among  moral  people,  respectable,  steady- 
going  folk,  don't  frighten  them  by  letting  out  some  of  your 
pot-house  principles." 

This  homily  produced  on  Charles  Claparon's  mind  an  effect 
very  similar  to  the  strange  sensation  of  his  new  suit  of  clothes. 
The  rollicking  prodigal,  hail-fellow-well-met  with  everybody, 
accustomed  to  the  comfortable,  disreputable  garments  in 
which  his  outer  man  was  as  much  at  home  as  his  thoughts  in 
the  language  that  clothed  them,  held  himself  upright,  stiff  as 
a  poker  in  the  new  clothes  for  which  the  tailor  had  kept  him 
waiting  to  the  last  minute,  and  was  as  ill  at  ease  in  his  move- 
ments as  in  this  new  phraseology.  He  put  out  a  hand  un- 
thinkingly toward  a  flask  or  a  box,  then,  hurriedly  recollect- 
ing himself,  drew  it  in  again,  and  in  the  same  way  he  began  a 
sentence  and  stopped  short  in  the  middle,  distinguishing  him- 
self by  a  ludicrous  incoherence,  which  did  not  escape  the 
observant  Pillerault.  His  round  face,  like  the  rakish-looking 
corkscrew  ringlets  of  his  wig,  were  totally  out  of  keeping 
with  his  manner,  and  he  seemed  to  think  one  thing  and  say 


140  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

another.    But  the  good  folk  concluded  that  his  inconsequence 
was  the  result  of  preoccupation. 

"He  does  so  much  business,"  said  Roguin. 

"  Business  has  given  him  very  little  breeding,"  Mme.  Ra- 
gon  said  to  Cesarine. 

M.  Roguin  overheard  her,  and  laid  a  finger  on  his  lips. 
"  He  is  rich,  clever,  and  honorable  to  a  fault,"  he  said,  bend- 
ing to  Mme.  Ragon. 

"  He  may  be  excused  something  for  such  qualities  as  those," 
said  Pillerault  to  Ragon. 

"Let  us  read  over  the  papers  before  dinner,"  said  Roguin. 
"We  are  alone." 

Mme.  Ragon,  Cesarine,  and  Constance  left  the  contracting 
parties,  Pillerault,  Ragon,  Cesar,  Roguin,  and  Claparon,  to 
listen  to  the  reading  of  the  documents  by  Alexandre  Crottat. 
Cesar  signed  a  mortgage  bond  for  forty  thousand  francs  se- 
cured on  the  land  and  the  factory  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple 
(the  money  had  been  lent  by  one  of  Roguin's  clients);  he 
paid  over  to  Roguin  Pillerault' s  order  on  the  bank,  gave 
(without  taking  a  receipt)  twenty  thousand  francs  worth  of 
bills  from  his  portfolio,  and  drew  another  bill  for  the  remain- 
ing hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  on  Charles  Claparon. 

"I  have  no  receipt  to  give  you,"  said  that  gentleman. 
"  You  are  acting  for  your  own  side  with  Monsieur  Roguin,  as 
we  are  doing  for  our  share.  Our  vendors  will  receive  their 
money  from  him  in  coin  ;  I  only  undertake  to  complete  your 
payment  by  paying  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  for 
your  bills " 

"That  is  right,"  said  Pillerault. 

"Well,  then,  gentlemen,  let  us  call  in  the  ladies  again,  for 
it  is  cold  without  them,"  said  Claparon,  with  a  look  at  Ro- 
guin to  see  whether  he  had  gone  too  far. 

"  Ladies  ! Ah  !  mademoiselle  is  your  young  lady,  of 

course,"  said  Claparon,  looking  at  Birotteau  and  straighten- 
ing himself  up.     "  Well,  well,  you  are  not  a  bungler.     Not 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  141 

one  of  the  roses  that  you  have  distilled  can  be  compared  with 
her,  and,  perhaps,  it  is  because  you  have  distilled  roses 
that " 

"  Faith!  "  said  Roguin,  interrupting  him,  "I  own  that  I 
am  hungry." 

"  Very  well,  let  us  have  dinner,"  said  Birotteau. 

"  We  are  to  have  dinner  in  the  presence  of  a  notary,"  said 
Claparon,  with  an  important  air. 

"  You  do  a  great  deal  of  business,  do  you  not  ?  "  said  Pil- 
lerault,  purposely  seating  himself  next  to  the  banker. 

"A  tremendous  amount,  wholesale,"  replied  Claparon; 
"  but  trade  is  dull,  hard  to  move — there  are  canals  now.  Oh, 
canals !  You  have  no  idea  how  busy  we  are  with  canals. 
That  is  comprehensible.  The  Government  wants  canals.  A 
canal  is  a  want  generally  felt.  All  the  trade  of  a  department 
is  interested  in  a  canal,  you  know  !  A  stream,  said  Pascal, 
is  a  moving  highway.  The  next  thing  is  a  market,  and  mar- 
kets depend  on  embankments,  for  there  are  a  frightful  lot  of 
embankments,  and  the  embankments  interest  the  poorer 
classes,  and  that  means  a  loan,  which  finally  benefits  the 
poor!  Voltaire  said,  'Canal,  canard,  canaille  /'  But  Gov- 
ernment depends  for  information  on  its  own  engineers ;  it  is 
difficult  to  meddle  in  the  matter — at  least,  it  is  difficult  to 

come  to  an  understanding  with  them ;  for  the  Chamber 

Oh  !  sir,  the  Chamber  gives  us  trouble  !  The  Chamber  does 
not  want  to  grapple  with  the  political  question  hidden  be- 
neath the  financial  question.  There  is  bad  faith  on  all  sides. 
Would  you  believe  this  ?  There  are  the  Kellers — well,  then, 
Francois  Keller  is  a  public  speaker,  he  attacks  the  measures 
of  the  Government  as  to  the  funds  and  canals.  He  comes 
home,  and  then  my  fine  gentleman  finds  us  with  our  proposi- 
tions ;  they  are  favorable,  and  he  has  to  make  it  up  with  the 
aforesaid  Government,  which  he  attacked  so  insolently  an 
hour  ago.  The  interests  of  the  public  speaker  clash  with  the 
interests  of  the  banker ;  we  are  between  two  fires.  Now  you 


142  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

understand  how  thorny  affairs  become ;  you  have  to  satisfy 
everybody — the  clerks,  the  people  in  the  chambers,  and  the 
people  in  the  ante-chambers,  and  the  ministers " 

"The  ministers?"  asked  Pillerault,  who  wished  to  probe 
this  partner's  mind  thoroughly. 

"Yes,  sir,  the  ministers." 

"Well,  then,  the  newspapers  are  right,"  said  Pillerault. 

"Here  is  uncle  on  politics,"  said  Birotteau;  "Monsieur 
Claparon  has  set  him  off." 

"Newspapers!"  said  Claparon,  "there  are  some  more 
confounded  humbugs  !  Newspapers  throw  us  all  into  confu- 
sion ;  they  do  us  a  good  turn  now  and  then,  but  the  cruel 
nights  they  make  me  spend  !  I  would  as  lief  be  without 
them  ;  they  are  the  ruin  of  my  eyes,  in  fact,  poring  over  them 
and  working  out  calculations." 

"But  to  return  to  the  ministers,"  said  Pillerault,  hoping 
for  revelations. 

"  Ministers  have  exigencies  which  are  purely  governmental. 
But  what  am  I  eating ;  is  it  ambrosia  ? ' '  asked  Claparon,  in- 
terrupting himself.  "  Here  is  a  sort  of  sauce  that  you  only 
have  in  citizens'  houses ;  you  never  get  it  at  grub-shops " 

At  that  word,  the  ornaments  on  Mme.  Ragon's  cap  skipped 
like  rams.  Claparon  gathered  that  the  expression  was  low, 
and  tried  to  retrieve  his  error. 

"That  is  what  the  heads  of  large  banking  firms  call  the 
high-class  taverns — Very  and  the  Freres  Provencaux.  Well, 
neither  those  vile  grub-shops  nor  our  most  accomplished 
cooks  make  you  a  soft,  mellow  sauce ;  some  give  you  water 
with  lemon-juice  in  it,  and  others  give  you  chemical  concoc- 
tions." 

The  conversation  at  dinner  chiefly  consisted  in  attacks  from 
Pillerault,  who  tried  to  plumb  his  man,  and  only  found  empti- 
ness ;  he  looked  upon  him  as  a  dangerous  person. 

"It  is  going  on  all  right,"  said  Roguin  in  Charles  Cla- 
paron's  ear. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  143 

"Oh  !  I  shall  get  out  of  my  clothes  to-night,  I  suppose," 
answered  Claparon,  who  was  gasping  for  breath. 

"  We  are  obliged  to  use  our  dining-room  as  a  sitting-room, 
sir,"  said  Birotteau,  "because  we  are  looking  forward  to  a 
little  gathering  of  our  friends  in  eighteen  days'  time,  partly 
to  celebrate  the  liberation  of  the  soil " 

"Right,  sir;  I  myself  am  also  for  the  Government. 
My  political  convictions  incline  me  to  the  statu  quo  of  the 
great  man  who  guides  the  destinies  of  the  house  of  Austria,  a 
fine  fellow  !  Keep  what  you  have,  to  get  more  ;  and,  in  the 
first  place,  get  more,  to  keep  what  you  have.  So  now  you 
know  the  bottom  of  my  opinions,  which  have  the  honor  to  be 
those  of  Prince  Metternich  !  " 

"  Partly  on  the  occasion  of  my  promotion  to  the  Order  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor,"  Cesar  went  on. 

"  Why,  yes,  I  know.  Now  who  was  telling  me  about  that? 
Was  it  the  Kellers  or  Nucingen  ?  " 

Roguin,  amazed  at  so  much  presence  of  mind,  signified  his 
admiration. 

"  Oh,  no;  it  was  at  the  Chamber." 

"At  the  Chamber.  Was  it  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere  ?  " 
asked  Cesar. 

"  The  very  man." 

"He  is  charming,"  said  C6sar,  addressing  his  uncle. 

"He  pours  out  talk,  talk,  talk,  till  you  are  drowned  in 
talk,"  said  Pillerault. 

"It  may  be,"  resumed  Birotteau,  "that  I  have  shown 
myself  worthy  of  this  favor " 

"  By  your  achievements  in  perfumery  ;  the  Bourbons  know 
how  to  reward  merit  of  every  kind.  Ah  !  let  us  stand  by  our 
generous  legitimate  Princes,  to  whom  we  shall  owe  unheard-of 
prosperity  about  to  be.  For,  you  may  be  sure  of  it,  the 
Restoration  feels  that  she  must  enter  the  lists  with  the  Empire, 
and  the  Restoration  will  make  peaceful  conquests ;  you  will 
see  conquests  ! " 


144  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

"You  will  no  doubt  honor  us  by  coming  to  our  ball,  sir," 
said  Mme.  Cesar. 

"  To  spend  an  evening  with  you,  madame,  I  would  miss  a 
chance  of  making  millions." 

"  He  certainly  is  a  babbler,"  said  Cesar  in  his  uncle's  ear. 

While  the  waning  glory  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  was  about 
to  shed  abroad  its  parting  rays,  a  faint  star  was  rising  above 
the  commercial  horizon ;  at  that  very  hour,  little  Popinot  was 
laying  the  foundations  of  his  fortune  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq- 
Diamants.  The  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants,  a  short,  narrow 
thoroughfare,  where  loaded  wagons  can  scarcely  pass  each 
other,  runs  between  the  Rue  des  Lombards  and  the  Rue 
Aubry-le-Boucher,  into  which  it  opens  just  opposite  the  end 
of  the  Rue  Quincampoix,  that  street  so  famous  in  the  history 
of  France  and  of  old  Paris. 

In  spite  of  this  narrowness,  the  near  neighborhood  of  the 
druggists'  quarter  made  the  place  convenient ;  and  from  that 
point  of  view  Popinot  had  not  made  a  bad  choice.  The  house 
(the  second  from  the  end  nearest  the  Rue  des  Lombards)  was 
so  dark  that  at  times  it  was  necessary  to  work  by  artificial 
light  in  the  daytime.  Popinot  had  taken  possession  the  even- 
ing before  of  all  its  darkest  and  most  unsavory  recesses.  His 
predecessor,  a  dealer  in  molasses  and  raw  sugars,  had  left  his 
mark  on  the  place;  the  walls,  the  yard,  and  the  warehouse 
bore  unmistakable  traces  of  his  occupation. 

Imagine  a  large  and  roomy  store,  the  huge  doors  barred 
with  iron  and  painted  dragon-green,  the  solid  iron  scroll-work, 
with  bolt-heads  as  large  as  mushrooms  by  way  of  ornament. 
The  store  was  adorned  and  protected,  as  bakers'  stores  used 
to  be,  by  wire-work  lattices,  which  bulged  at  the  bottom,  and 
was  paved  with  great  slabs  of  white  stone,  cracked  for  the 
most  part.  The  walls  of  a  guard-house  are  not  yellower  nor 
barer.  Further  on  came  the  back-shop  and  kitchen,  which 
looked  out  into  the  yard ;  and  behind  these  again  a  second 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  145 

wareroom,  which  must  at  one  time  have  been  a  stable.  An 
inside  staircase  had  been  contrived  in  the  back-shop,  by  which 
you  gained  two  rooms  that  looked  out  upon  the  street ;  here 
Popinot  meant  to  have  his  counting-house  and  his  ledgers. 
Above  the  warehouse  there  were  three  small  rooms,  all  backed 
against  the  party-wall,  and  lighted  by  windows  on  the  side  of 
the  yard.  It  was  in  these  dilapidated  rooms  that  Popinot  pro- 
posed to  live. 

The  view  from  the  windows  was  shut  in  by  the  high  walls 
that  rose  about  the  dingy,  crooked  yard,  walls  so  damp  that 
even  in  the  driest  weather  they  looked  as  if  they  had  been 
newly  distempered.  The  cracks  in  the  paving-stones  were 
choked  with  black,  malodorous  filth,  deposited  there  during 
the  tenancy  of  the  dealer  in  molasses  and  raw  sugars.  So 
much  for  the  outlook.  As  to  the  rooms  themselves,  only  one 
of  them  boasted  a  fireplace ;  the  floors  were  of  brick,  the  walls 
were  unpapered. 

Gaudissart  and  Popinot  had  been  busy  there  ever  since  the 
morning,  putting  up  a  cheap  wall-paper  with  their  own  hands 
in  the  ugly  room ;  a  journeyman  paperhanger  whom  Gaudissart 
ferreted  out  had  varnished  it  for  them.  The  furniture  con- 
sisted of  a  student's  mattress,  a  wooden  bedstead  painted  red, 
a  rickety  nightstand,  a  venerable  chest  of  drawers,  a  table,  a 
couple  of  armchairs,  and  half-a-dozen  ordinary  chairs,  a 
present  from  Popinet  the  judge  to  his  nephew.  Gaudissart 
had  put  a  cheap  pier-glass  over  the  mantel.  It  was  almost 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  the  two  friends,  sitting 
before  a  blazing  fire,  were  about  to  discuss  the  remains  of  their 
breakfast. 

"Away  with  the  cold  mutton  !  It  is  out  of  character  in  a 
house-warming,"  cried  Gaudissart. 

Popinot  held  up  his  last  twenty-franc  piece,  which  was  to 
pay  for  the  prospectus.  "  But  I "  he  began. 

"I?"  retorted  Gaudissart,  sticking  a  forty-franc  piece  into 
his  eye. 
10 


146  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

A  knock  at  the  street-door  reverberated  through  the  yard. 
It  was  Sunday.  The  workpeople  were  taking  their  holiday 
away  from  their  workshops,  and  the  idle  echoes  greeted  every 
sound. 

"There  is  my  trusty  man  from  the  Ruede  la  Poterie,"  Gau- 
dissart  went  on.  "  For  my  own  part,  it  is  not  simply  '  I,'  but 
'I  have.'" 

And,  in  fact,  a  waiter  appeared,  followed  by  two  kitchen- 
boys,  carrying  between  them  three  wicker  baskets,  containing 
a  dinner,  and  crowned  by  six  bottles  of  wine  selected  with 
discrimination. 

"But  how  are  we  to  eat  such  a  lot  of  things?"  asked 
Popinot. 

"There  is  the  man  of  letters,"  cried  Gaudissart.  "  Finot 
understands  the  pomps  and  vanities.  The  artless  youth  will 
be  here  directly  with  a  prospectus  fit  to  make  your  hair  stand 
on  end  (neat  that,  eh?),  and  prospectuses  are  always  dry  work. 
You  must  water  the  seeds  if  you  mean  to  have  flowers.  Here, 
minions,"  he  added,  striking  an  attitude  for  the  benefit  of  the 
kitchen-boys,  "here's  gold  for  you." 

He  held  out  six  sous  with  a  gesture  worthy  of  his  idol, 
Napoleon. 

"Thank  you,  Monsieur  Gaudissart,"  said  the  scullions, 
more  pleased  with  the  joke  than  with  the  few  centimes  of 
money. 

"As  for  thee,  my  son,"  he  continued,  turning  to  the  waiter 
who  remained,  "  there  is  a  portress  here.  She  crouches  in 
the  depths  of  a  cave,  where  at  times  she  does  some  cooking, 
as  erewhile  Nausicaa  did  the  washing,  simply  by  way  of  re- 
laxation. Hie  thee  to  her,  work  on  her  trustful  nature ;  in- 
terest her,  young  man,  in  the  temperature  of  thy  hot  dishes. 
Say  to  her  that  she  shall  be  blessed,  and  above  all  things  re- 
spected, highly  respected,  by  Felix  Gaudissart,  son  of  Jean- 
Francois  Gaudissart,  and  grandson  of  Gaudissart,  vile  prole- 
taries of  remote  lineage,  his  ancestors.  Off  with  you,  and  act 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  147 

in  such  a  sort  that  everything  shall  be  good ;  for  if  it  isn't  I 
will  make  you  laugh  on  the  wrong  side  of  your  face." 

There  was  another  knock  at  the  door. 

"That  is  the  ingenious  Andoche,"  said  Gaudissart. 

A  stout  young  fellow  suddenly  entered.  He  had  somewhat 
chubby  cheeks,  was  of  middle  height,  and  from  head  to  foot 
looked  like  the  hatter's  son.  A  certain  shrewdness  lurked 
beneath  the  air  of  constraint  that  sat  on  his  rounded  features. 
The  habitual  dejection  of  a  man  who  is  tired  of  poverty  left 
him,  and  a  hilarious  expression  crossed  his  countenance  at 
the  sight  of  the  preparations  on  the  table  and  the  significant 
seals  on  the  bottle-corks.  At  Gaudissart's  shout,  a  twinkle 
came  into  the  pale-blue  eyes,  the  big  head,  on  which  a 
Kalmuck  physiognomy  had  been  carved,  rolled  from  side  to 
side,  and  he  gave  Popinot  a  distant  greeting,  in  which  there 
was  neither  servility  nor  respect,  like  a  man  who  feels  out  of 
his  element  and  stands  on  his  dignity. 

Finot  was  just  beginning  to  discover  that  he  had  no  sort  of 
talent  for  literature;  he  did  not  think  of  quitting  his  calling; 
he  meant  to  exploit  literature  by  raising  himself  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  men  who  possessed  the  talent  which  he  lacked.  In- 
stead of  doing  ill-paid  work  himself  he  would  turn  his  business 
capacities  to  account.  He  was  just  at  the  turning-point ;  he 
had  exhausted  the  expedients  of  humility ;  he  had  experienced 
to  the  full  the  humiliations  of  failure ;  and,  like  those  who 
take  a  wide  outlook  over  the  financial  world,  he  resolved  to 
change  his  tactics  and  to  be  insolent  in  future.  He  needed 
capital  in  the  first  instance,  and  Gaudissart  had  opened  out  a 
prospect  of  making  the  money  by  putting  Popinot's  oil  before 
the  public. 

"You  will  make  his  arrangements  with  the  newspapers," 
Gaudissart  had  said,  "  but  don't  swindle  him  ;  if  you  do  there 
will  be  a  duel  to  the  death  between  us  ;  give  him  value  for 
his  money !  " 

Popinot  looked  uneasily  at  the  "author."     Your  true  man 


148  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

of  business  regards  an  author  with  mixed  feelings,  in  which 
alarm  and  curiosity  are  blended  with  compassion  ;  and  though 
Popinot  had  been  well  educated,  his  relations'  attitude  of 
mind  and  ways  of  thinking,  together  with  a  course  of  drudgery 
in  a  store,  had  produced  their  effect  on  his  intelligence,  and 
he  bent  beneath  the  yoke  of  use  and  wont.  You  can  see  this 
by  noticing  the  metamorphoses  which  ten  years  will  effect 
among  a  hundred  boys,  who  when  they  left  school  or  college 
were  almost  exactly  alike. 

Andoche  mistook  the  impression  which  he  had  made  for 
admiration. 

"Very  well.  Let  us  run  through  the  prospectus  before 
dinner,  then  it  will  be  off  our  minds,  and  we  can  drink," 
said  Gaudissart.  "It  is  uncomfortable  to  read  after  dinner; 
the  tongue  is  digesting  too." 

"Sir,"  said  Popinot,  "a  prospectus  often  means  a  whole 
fortune." 

"And  for  nobodies  like  me,"  said  Andoche,  "fortune  is 
nothing  but  a  prospectus." 

"Ah!  very  good,"  said  Gaudissart.  "That  droll  fellow 
of  an  Andoche  has  wit  enough  for  the  Forty." 

"  For  a  hundred,"  said  Popinot,  awestruck  with  the  idea. 

Gaudissart  snatched  up  the  manuscript,  and  read  aloud, 
and  with  emphasis,  the  first  two  words — "  Cephalic  Oil !  " 

"  I  like  Cesarian  Oil  better,"  said  Popinot. 

"You  don't  know  them  in  the  provinces,  my  friend,"  said 
Gaudissart.  "There  is  a  surgical  operation  known  by  that 
name,  and  they  are  so  stupid  that  they  will  think  your  oil  is 
meant  to  facilitate  childbirth  ;  and  if  they  start  off  with  the 
notion,  it  would  be  too  hard  work  to  bring  them  all  the  way 
back  to  hair  again." 

"Without  defending  the  name,"  observed  the  author,  "I 
would  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  Cephalic  Oil  means 
oil  for  the  head,  and  resumes  your  ideas." 

"  Go  on  !  "  said  Popinot  impatiently. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU:  149 

And  here  follows  a  second  historical  document,  a  pros- 
pectus, which  even  at  this  day  is  circulating  by  thousands 
among  retail  perfumers : 


GOLD  MEDAL,    PARIS,    1824.* 

CEPHALIC    OIL 

(Improved  Patent). 

No  cosmetic  can  make  the  hair  grow ;  and  in  the  same  way,  it  cannot 
be  dyed  by  chemical  preparations  without  danger  to  the  seat  of  the  intelli- 
gence. Science  has  recently  proclaimed  that  the  hair  is  not  a  living  sub- 
stance, and  that  there  is  no  means  of  preventing  it  from  blanching  or  falling 
out.  To  prevent  xerasia  and  baldness,  the  bulb  at  the  roots  should  be  pre- 
served from  all  atmospheric  influences  and  the  natural  temperature  of  the 
head  evenly  maintained.  The  Cephalic  Oil,  based  on  these  principles 
established  by  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  induces  the  important 
result  so  highly  prized  by  the  ancients,  the  Romans  and  Greeks,  and  the 
nations  of  the  North — a  fine  head  of  hair.  Learned  research  has  brought 
to  light  the  fact  that  the  nobles  of  olden  times,  who  were  distinguished  by 
their  long,  flowing  locks,  used  no  other  means  than  these;  their  recipe, 
long  lost,  has  been  ingeniously  rediscovered  by  A.  POPINOT,  inventor  of 
Cephalic  Oil. 

To  preserve  the  glands,  and  not  to  provoke  an  impossible  or  hurtful 
stimulation  of  the  dermis  which  contains  them,  is,  therefore,  the  function 
of  Cephalic  Oil.  This  oil,  which  exhales  a  delicious  fragrance,  prevents 
the  exfoliation  of  the  pellicle ;  while  the  substances  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed (the  essential  oil  of  the  hazelnut  being  the  principal  element)  coun- 
teract the  effects  of  atmospheric  air  upon  the  head,  thus  preventing  chills, 
catarrh,  and  all  unpleasant  encephalic  affections  by  maintaining  the  natural 
temperature.  In  this  manner  the  glands,  which  contain  the  hair-producing 
secretions,  are  never  attacked  by  heat  or  cold.  A  fine  head  of  hair — that 
glorious  product  so  highly  valued  by  either  sex — may  be  retained  to  ex- 
treme old  age  by  the  use  of  Cephalic  Oil,  which  imparts  to  the  hair  the 

*  The  next  "  Quinquennial  Exhibition." 


150  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

brilliancy,  silkiness,  and  gloss  which  constitutes  the  charm  of  children's 
heads. 

Directions  for  use  are  issued  on  the  wrapper  of  every  bottle. 

DIRECTIONS  FOR    USE. 

It  is  perfectly  useless  to  apply  oil  to  the  hair  itself;  beside  being  an 
absurd  superstition,  it  is  an  obnoxious  practice,  for  the  cosmetic  leaves  its 
traces  everywhere. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  part  the  hair  with  a  comb,  and  to  apply  the  oil 
to  the  roots  every  morning  with  a  small,  fine  sponge,  proceeding  thus  until 
the  whole  surface  of  the  skin  has  received  a  slight  application,  the  hair 
having  been  previously  combed  and  brushed. 

To  prevent  spurious  imitations,  each  bottle  bears  the  signature  of  the 
inventor.  Sold  at  the  price  of  THREE  FRANCS  by  A.  POPINOT,  Rue  des 
Cinq-Diamants,  Quartier  des  Lombards,  Paris. 

//  is  particularly  requested  that  all  communications  by  post  should  be 
prepaid. 

Note. — A.  POPINOT  also  supplies  essences  and  pharmaceutical  prepara- 
tions, such  as  neroli,  oil  of  spike-lavender,  oil  of  sweet-almonds,  cacao- 
butter,  caffein,  castor  oil,  et  catera. 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  said  the  illustrious  Gaudissart,  address- 
ing Finot,  "  it  is  perfectly  written  !  Ye  gods,  how  we  plunge 
into  deep  science  !  No  shuffling ;  we  go  straight  to  the  point ! 
Ah  !  I  congratulate  you  heartily ;  there  is  literature  of  some 
practical  use !  " 

"A  fine  prospectus!  "  cried  Popinot  enthusiastically. 

"The  very  first  sentence  is  a  death-blow  to  Macassar,"  said 
Gaudissart,  rising  to  his  feet  with  a  magisterial  air,  to  pro- 
claim with  an  oratorical  gesture  between  each  word,  "  '  You — 
cannot — make — hair — grow.  It — cannot — be — dyed — with- 
out— danger!'  Aha!  success  lies  in  that.  Modern  science 
corroborates  the  custom  of  the  ancients.  You  can  suit  your- 
self to  old  and  young.  You  have  to  do  with  an  old  man. 
'Aha,  sir !  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  ancients,  were  in  the 
right ;  they  were  not  such  fools  as  some  would  make  them  out 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  151 

to  be  ! '  Or  if  it  is  a  young  man.  '  My  dear  fellow,  another 
discovery  due  to  the  progress  of  enlightenment ;  we  are  pro- 
gressing. What  must  we  not  expect  from  steam,  and  the 
telegraph,  and  such  like  inventions?  This  oil  is  the  outcome 
of  Monsieur  Vauquelin's  investigations  ! '  How  if  we  were  to 
print  an  extract  from  M.  Vauquelin's  paper,  eh  ?  Capital ! 
Come,  Finot,  draw  up  your  chair !  Let  us  stow  the  victuals, 
and  tipple  down  the  champagne  to  our  young  friend's  suc- 
cess !  " 

"It  seemed  to  me,"  said  the  author  modestly,  "that  the 
time  for  the  light  and  playful  prospectus  has  gone  by ;  we  are 
entering  on  an  epoch  of  science,  and  must  talk  learnedly  and 
authoritatively  to  make  an  impression  on  the  public." 

"We  will  push  the  oil.  My  feet,  and  my  tongue,  too,  are 
hankering  to  go.  I  have  agencies  for  all  the  houses  that  deal 
in  hairdressers'  goods,  not  one  of  them  gives  more  than  thirty 
per  cent,  of  discount ;  make  up  your  mind  to  give  forty,  and 
I  will  engage  to  sell  a  hundred  thousand  bottles  in  six  months. 
I  will  make  a  set  on  all  the  druggists,  grocers,  and  hair- 
dressers !  And  if  you  will  allow  them  forty  per  cent,  on  your 
oil,  they  will  all  send  their  customers  wild  for  it." 

The  three  young  men  ate  like  lions,  drank  like  Swiss,  and 
waxed  merry  over  the  future  success  of  the  Cephalic  Oil. 

"This  oil  goes  to  your  head,"  said  Finot,  smiling,  and 
Gaudissart  exhausted  whole  series  of  puns  on  the  words  oil, 
head,  and  hair. 

In  the  midst  of  their  Homeric  laughter  over  the  dessert, 
the  knocker  sounded,  and,  in  spite  of  the  toasts  and  the 
wishes  for  luck  exchanged  among  the  three  friends,  they 
heard  it. 

"It  is  my  uncle  !  He  is  capable  of  coming  to  see  me," 
cried  Popinot. 

"An  uncle  ?  "  asked  Finot,  "  and  we  have  not  a  glass  ! " 

"  My  friend  Popinot's  uncle  is  an  examining  magistrate," 
said  Gaudissart,  by  way  of  reply  to  Finot ;  "  there  is  no  occa- 


152  CESAR  BIROTTEAU, 

sion  to  hoax  him,  he  saved  my  life.  Ah  !  if  you  had  found 
yourself  in  the  fix  I  was  in,  with  the  scaffold  staring  you  in  the 
face,  where,  kouik,  off  goes  your  hair  for  good  !  ' '  (and  he  im- 
itated the  fatal  knife  by  a  gesture),  "  you  would  be  apt  to 
remember  the  righteous  judge  to  whom  you  owe  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  channel  that  the  champagne  goes  down  !  You 
would  remember  him  if  you  were  dead  drunk.  You  don't 
know,  Finot,  but  what  you  may  want  M.  Popinot  one  day. 
Saquerlotte  /  You  must  make  your  bow  to  him,  and  thirteen 
to  the  dozen  !  " 

It  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  "  righteous  judge,"  who  was 
asking  for  his  nephew  of  the  woman  who  opened  the  door. 
Anselme  recognized  the  voice,  and  went  down,  candle  in 
hand,  to  light  his  way. 

"Good-evening,  gentlemen,"  said  the  magistrate. 

The  illustrious  Gaudissart  made  a  profound  bow.  Finot 
looked  the  new-comer  over  with  drunken  eyes,  and  decided 
that  Popinot's  uncle  was  tolerably  wooden-headed. 

"  There  is  no  luxury  here,"  said  the  judge,  gravely  looking 
round  the  room;  "but,  my  boy,  you  must  begin  by  being 
nothing  if  you  are  to  be  something  great." 

"How  profound  he  is  !  "  exclaimed  Gaudissart,  turning  to 
Finot. 

"An  idea  for  an  article,"  said  the  journalist. 

"Oh  !  is  that  you,  sir?"  asked  the  judge,  recognizing  the 
commercial  traveler.  "  Eh  !  what  are  you  doing  here  ?  " 

"  I  want  to  do  all  my  little  part,  sir,  toward  making  your 
dear  nephew's  fortune.  We  have  just  been  pondering  over 
the  prospectus  for  this  oil  of  his,  and  this  gentleman  here  is 
the  author  of  the  prospectus,  which  seems  to  us  to  be  one  of 
the  finest  things  in  the  literature  of  periwigs." 

The  judge  looked  at  Finot. 

"  This  gentleman  is  Monsieur  Andoche  Finot,"  Gaudissart 
said,  "one  of  the  most  distinguished  young  men  in  literature; 
he  does  political  leaders  and  the  minor  theatres  for  the  Gov- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  153 

ernment  newspapers ;  he  is  a  minister  who  is  by  way  of  being 
an  author." 

Here  Finot  tugged  at  Gaudissart's  coat-tails. 

"Very  well,  boys,"  said  the  judge,  to  whom  these  words 
explained  the  appearance  of  the  table  covered  with  the  rem- 
nants of  a  feast  very  excusable  under  the  circumstances. 

"As  for  you,  Anselme,"  he  continued,  turning  to  Popinot, 
"get  ready  to  pay  a  visit  to  Monsieur  Birotteau ;  I  must  go  to 
see  him  this  evening.  You  will  sign  your  deed  of  partnership; 
I  have  gone  through  it  very  carefully.  As  you  are  going  to 
manufacture  your  oil  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  I  think  that 
he  ought  to  make  over  the  lease  of  the  workshop  to  you,  and 
that  he  has  power  to  sublet ;  if  things  are  all  in  order,  it  will 
save  disputes  afterward.  These  walls  look  to  me  to  be  very 
damp,  Anselme ;  bring  up  trusses  of  straw  and  put  them  round 
about  where  your  bed  stands." 

"  Excuse  me,  sir,"  said  Gaudissart  with  a  courtier's  supple- 
ness, "we  have  just  put  up  the  wall-paper  ourselves  to-day, 
and — it — is — not  quite  dry." 

"  Economy  !  good  !  "  said  the  judge. 

"Listen,"  said  Gaudissart  in  Finot's  ear;  "my  friend 
Popinot  is  a  good  young  man  ;  he  is  going  off  with  his  uncle, 
so  come  along  and  let  us  finish  the  evening  with  our  fair 
cousins." 

The  journalist  turned  out  the  lining  of  his  vest  pocket. 
Popinot  saw  the  manoeuvre,  and  slipped  a  twenty-franc  piece 
into  the  hand  of  the  author  of  his  prospectus.  The  judge  had 
a  cab  waiting  at  the  corner  of  the  street,  and  carried  off  his 
nephew  to  call  on  Birotteau. 

Pillerault,  M.  and  Mme.  Ragon,  and  Roguin  were  playing 
at  boston,  and  Cesarine  was  embroidering  a  fichu,  when  the 
elder  Popinot  and  Anselme  appeared.  Roguin,  sitting  op- 
posite Mme.  Ragon,  could  watch  Cesarine,  who  sat  by  her 
side,  and  saw  the  happy  look  on  the  girl's  face  when  Anselme 
came  in,  saw  her  flush  up  red  as  a  pomegranate  flower,  and 


154  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

called  his  head  clerk's  attention  to  her  by  a  significant 
gesture. 

"  So  this  is  to  be  a  day  of  deeds,  is  it  ?  "  said  the  perfumer, 
when  greetings  had  been  exchanged,  and  the  judge  explained 
the  reason  of  the  visit. 

Cesar,  Anselme,  and  the  judge  went  up  to  the  perfumer's 
temporary  quarters  on  the  second  floor  to  debate  the  matter 
of  the  lease  and  the  deed  of  partnership  drawn  up  by  the 
elder  Popinot.  It  was  arranged  that  the  lease  should  run  for 
eighteen  years,  so  as  to  be  conterminous  with  the  lease  of  the 
house  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants ;  trifling  matter  as  it 
appeared  at  the  time,  it  was  destined  later  to  serve  Birotteau's 
interests. 

When  they  returned  to  the  sitting-room,  the  elder  Popinot, 
surprised  by  the  confusion  and  the  men  at  work  on  a  Sunday 
in  the  house  of  so  devout  a  man,  asked  the  reason  of  it  all. 
This  was  the  question  for  which  C6sar  was  waiting. 

""Although  you  are  not  worldly,  sir,  you  will  not  object  to 
our  celebrating  our  deliverance ;  and  that  is  not  all — if  we 
are  arranging  for  a  little  gathering  of  our  friends,  it  is  partly 
also  to  celebrate  my  promotion  to  the  Order  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  the  examining  magistrate  (who  had  not  been 
decorated). 

"  It  may  be  that  I  have  shown  myself  not  unworthy  of  this 
signal  mark  of  royal  favor  by  discharging  my  functions  at  the 

Tribunal oh  !  I  mean  to  say  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by 

fighting  for  the  Royalist  cause  on  the  steps " 

"Yes,"  said  the  magistrate. 

"Steps  of  Saint-Roch,  on  the  i3th  of  Venddmiaire,  where 
I  was  wounded  by  Napoleon." 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  come,"  said  M.  Popinet;  "and  if  my 
wife  is  well  enough,  I  will  bring  her." 

"Xandrot,"  said  Roguin,  on  the  doorstep,  "give  up  all 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU,  155 

thoughts  of  marrying  Cesarine;  in  six  weeks'  time  you  will 
see  that  I  have  given  you  sound  counsel." 

"Why?"  asked  Crottat. 

"  My  dear  fellow,  Birotteau  is  about  to  spend  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  over  this  ball  of  his,  and  he  is  embarking 
his  whole  fortune,  against  my  advice,  in  this  building-land 
scheme.  In  six  weeks'  time  these  people  will  not  have  bread 
to  eat.  Marry  Mademoiselle  Lourdois,  the  house-painter's 
daughter ;  she  has  three  hundred  thousand  francs  to  her  for- 
tune. I  have  planned  this  shift  for  you.  If  you  will  pay  me 
down  the  money,  you  can  have  my  practice  to-morrow  for  a 
hundred  thousand  francs." 

The  splendors  of  the  perfumer's  forthcoming  ball,  an- 
nounced to  Europe  by  the  newspapers,  were  very  differently 
announced  in  commercial  circles  by  flying  rumors  of  work- 
people employed  night  and  day  on  the  perfumer's  house. 
The  rumors  took  various  forms ;  here  it  was  said  that  Cesar 
had  taken  the  house  on  either  side ;  there,  that  his  drawing- 
rooms  were  to  be  gilded ;  some  said  that  no  tradespeople 
would  be  invited,  and  that  the  ball  was  given  to  Government 
officials  only ;  and  the  perfumer  was  severely  blamed  for  his 
ambition,  they  scoffed  at  his  political  aspirations,  they  denied 
that  he  had  been  wounded  !  More  than  one  scheme  was  set 
on  foot,  in  the  second  arrondissement,  in  consequence  of  the 
ball ;  the  friends  of  the  family  took  things  quietly,  but  the 
claims  of  distant  acquaintances  were  vast. 

Those  who  have  favor  to  bestow  never  lack  courtiers ;  and 
a  goodly  number  of  the  guests  were  at  no  little  pains  to  pro- 
cure their  cards  of  invitation.  The  Birotteaus  were  amazed 
to  find  so  many  friends  whose  existence  they  had  not  sus- 
pected. This  eagerness  on  their  part  alarmed  Mme.  Birot- 
teau ;  she  looked  more  and  more  gloomy  as  the  days  went 
by  and  the  solemn  festival  came  nearer.  She  had  confessed 
to  Cesar  from  the  very  first  that  she  should  not  know  how  to 


156  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

act  her  part  as  hostess,  and  the  innumerable  small  details 
frightened  her.  Where  was  the  plate  to  come  from  ?  How 
about  the  glass,  the  refreshments,  the  forks  and  spoons  ?  And 
who  would  look  after  it  all  ?  She  begged  Birotteau  to  stand 
near  the  door  and  see  that  no  one  came  who  had  not  been 
asked  to  the  ball  ;  she  had  heard  strange  things  about  people 
who  came  to  dances  claiming  acquaintance  with  people  whom 
they  did  not  know  by  name. 

One  evening,  ten  days  before  the  famous  Sunday,  Messieurs 
Braschon,  Grindot,  Lourdois,  and  Chaffaroux  the  contractor 
having  given  their  word  that  the  rooms  should  be  ready  for 
the  1 7th  of  December,  there  had  been  a  laughable  conference 
after  dinner  in  the  humble  little  sitting-room  on  the  mezza- 
nine floor — C6sar  and  his  wife  and  daughter  were  making  a 
list  of  guests  and  writing  the  cards  of  invitation,  which  had 
been  sent  in  only  that  morning,  nicely  printed  in  the  English 
fashion  on  rose-colored  paper,  in  accordance  with  the  precepts 
laid  down  in  the  "  Complete  Guide  to  Etiquette." 

"Look  here  !  "  said  Cesar;  "we  must  not  leave  anybody 
out." 

"If  we  forget  any  one,"  remarked  Constance,  "we  shall 
be  reminded  of  it.  Madame  Derville,  who  never  called  upon 
us  before,  sailed  in  yesterday  evening  in  great  state." 

"She  was  very  pretty;  I  liked  her,"  said  Cesarine. 

"Yet  before  she  was  married  she  was  even  worse  off  than 
was  I,"  said  Constance ;  "  she  used  to  do  plain  needlework  in 
the  Rue  Montmartre  ;  she  has  made  shirts  for  your  father." 

"  Well,  let  us  put  the  great  people  down  at  the  top  of  the 
list,"  said  Cesar.  "  Write  '  M.  le  Due  and  Mme.  la  Duchesse 
de  Lenoncourt,'  Cesarine." 

"Goodness!  Cesar,"  cried  Constance,  "  pray  don't  begin 
to  send  invitations  to  people  whom  you  only  know  through 
the  business.  Are  you  going  to  ask  the  Princesse  de  Blamont- 
Chauvry  ?  She  is  more  nearly  related  to  your  late  godmother, 
the  Marquise  d'Uxelles,  than  even  the  Due  de  Lenoncourt. 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  157 

And  shall  you  ask  the  two  Messieurs  Vandenesse,  de  Marsay, 
de  Ronquerolles,  de  1'Aiglemont;  in  short,  all  your  cus- 
tomers? You  are  mad;  honors  are  turning  your  head " 

"  Yes !  but  Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Fontaine  and  his  family. 
Eh?  He  used  to  come  to  the  Queen  of  Roses  under  the 
name  of  Grand-Jacques  with  the  Gars  (M.  le  Marquis  de 
Montauran  that  was)  and  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere,  whom 
they  called  the  Nantais  in  the  days  before  the  great  affair  of 
the  ijth  of  Vendemiaire.  And  they  would  shake  hands  with 
you  then,  and  it  was,  '  My  dear  Birotteau,  keep  your  heart 
up,  and  give  your  life,  like  the  rest  of  us,  for  the  good  cause  ! ' 
We  are  old  fellow-conspirators." 

"Put  him  down,"  said  Constance;  "if  Monsieur  de  la 
Billardiere  and  his  son  are  coming  they  must  have  somebody 
to  speak  to." 

"Set  down  his  name,  Cesarine,"  said  Birotteau.  "Impri- 
mis, his  worship  the  prefect  of  the  Seine  ;  he  may  or  may  not 
come,  but  he  is  the  head  of  the  municipal  corporation,  and 
'  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due.'  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere, 
the  mayor,  and  his  son.  (Write  down  the  number  of  the 
people  after  every  name.)  My  colleague,  Monsieur  Granet, 
and  his  wife.  She  is  very  ugly,  but,  all  the  same,  we  cannot 
leave  her  out.  Monsieur  Curel,  the  goldsmith,  colonel  of  the 
National  Guard,  and  his  wife  and  two  daughters.  Those  are 
what  I  call  the  authorities.  Now  for  the  big-wigs  !  Monsieur 
le  Comte  and  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Fontaine  and  their 
daughter,  Mademoiselle  Emilie  de  Fontaine." 

"  An  insolent  girl,  who  makes  me  come  out  of  the  store  to 
speak  to  her  at  her  carriage-door  in  all  weathers,"  said  Mme. 
Cesar.  "  If  she  comes  at  all,  it  will  be  to  make  fun  of  us." 

"  In  that  case,  perhaps,  she  will  come,"  said  Cesar,  who 
meant  to  fill  his  rooms  at  all  costs.  "  Go  on,  Cesarine — 
Monsieur  le  Comte  and  Madame  la  Comtesse  de  Granville,  my 
landlord,  the  hardest  head  in  the  Court  of  Appeal,  Derville 
says.  Oh  !  by-the-by,  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere  has  arranged 


158  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

for  me  to  be  presented  to-morrow  by  Monsieur  le  Comte  de 
Lacepede  himself;  it  is  only  polite  to  ask  the  grand  chan- 
cellor to  dinner  and  to  the  ball.  Monsieur  Vauquelin.  Put 
him  down  for  the  dinner  and  for  the  ball  too,  Cesarine.  And, 
while  we  remember  it,  all  the  Chiffrevilles  and  the  Protez 
family.  Monsieur  Popinot,  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  the 
Seine,  and  Madame  Popinot.  Monsieur  and  Madame  Thi- 
rion,  he  is  an  usher  of  the  Privy  Chamber  and  a  friend 
of  the  Ragons ;  it  is  said  that  their  daughter  is  to  be  married 
to  one  of  Monsieur  Camusot's  sons  by  his  first  marriage." 

"  Cesar,  do  not  forget  young  Horace  Bianchon  ;  he  is  Popi- 
not's  nephew  and  Anselme's  cousin,"  put  in  Constance. 

"Ah,  to  be  sure?  Cesarine  has  put  a  figure  four  very 
plainly  after  the  Popinots.  Monsieur  and  Madame  Ra- 
bourdin ;  Rabourdin  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  departments 
in  de  la  Billardiere's  division.  Monsieur  Cochin  of  the  same 
department,  and  his  wife  and  son  ;  they  are  sleeping-partners 
in  Matifat's  concern ;  and,  while  we  are  about  it,  put  down 
Monsieur  and  Madame  and  Mademoiselle  Matifat." 

"  The  Matifats  have  been  making  overtures  for  their  friends, 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Colleville,  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Thuillier,  and  the  Saillards." 

"We  shall  see,"  said  C£sar.  "Our  stockbroker,  Jules 
Desmarets,  and  his  wife." 

"She  will  be  the  prettiest  woman  in  the  room!"  cried 
Cesarine.  "I  like  her,  oh  !  more  than  any  one  !  " 

"  Derville  and  his  wife." 

"Just  put  down  Monsieur  and  Madame  Coquelin,  who 
took  over  Uncle  Pillerault's  business,"  said  Constance.  "They 
made  so  sure  of  being  asked  that  the  poor  little  thing  is 
having  a  grand  ball-dress  made  by  my  dressmaker — a  white 
satin  overskirt  covered  with  tulle,  embroidered  with  blue 
chicory  flowers.  It  would  not  have  taken  much  to  persuade 
her  to  have  a  gold-embroidered  court-dress.  If  we  left  them 
out,  we  should  make  two  bitter  enemies." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  159 

"  Put  them  down,  Cesarine ;  we  must  show  our  respect  for 
trade,  for  we  are  tradespeople  ourselves.  Monsieur  and 
Madame  Roguin." 

"Mamma,  Madame  Roguin  will  wear  her  necklace,  all  her 
diamonds,  and  her  mechlin-lace  gown." 

"  Monsieur  and  Madame  Lebas,"  Cesar  continued.  "  And 
next,  the  president  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  and  his  wife 
and  two  daughters  (I  forgot  to  put  them  among  the  authorities). 
Monsieur  and  Madame  Lourdois  and  their  daughter.  Cla- 
paron  the  banker ;  du  Tillet,  Grindot,  Monsieur  Molineux ; 
Pillerault  and  his  landlord  ;  Monsieur  and  Madame  Camusot, 
the  rich  silk  mercer,  and  all  their  family,  the  one  at  the 
Ecole  Polytechnique  and  the  advocate;  he  will  receive  an 
appointment  as  judge — he  is  the  one  that  is  engaged  to  be 
married  to  Mademoiselle  Thirion." 

"It  will  only  be  a  provincial  appointment,"  said  Made- 
moiselle Cesarine. 

"  Monsieur  Cardot,  Camusot's  father-in-law,  and  all  the 
young  Cardots.  Stay !  there  are  the  Guillaumes  in  the  Rue 
du  Colombier,  Lebas'  wife's  people,  two  old  folk  who  will 
be  wall-flowers.  Alexandre  Crottat — Celestin " 

"  Papa,  do  not  forget  Andoche  Finot  and  Gaudissart,  two 
young  men  who  have  been  so  useful  to  Anselme." 

"Gaudissart?  He  got  himself  into  trouble.  But  never 
mind,  he  is  going  away  in  a  few  days,  and  will  travel  for  our 
oil — so  put  him  down  !  As  for  Master  Andoche  Finot,  what 
is  he  to  us?" 

' '  Anselme  says  that  he  will  be  a  great  man  ;  he  is  as  clever 
as  Voltaire." 

"  An  author  is  he?     They  are  all  of  them  atheists." 

"Put  him  down,  papa;  so  far  there  are  not  so  very  many 
men  who  dance.  Beside,  your  nice  prospectus  for  the  oil  was 
his  doing." 

"He  believes  in  our  oil,  does  he?"  said  Cesar.  "Put 
him  down,  dear  child." 


160  CASAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"So  I,  too,  have  my  proteges  on  the  list,"  commented 
CSsarine. 

"Put  Mitral,  my  process-server,  and  our  doctor,  Monsieur 
Haudry ;  it  is  for  form's  sake,  he  will  not  come." 

"  He  will  come  for  his  game  of  cards,"  said  Cesarine. 

"  Ah  !  by-the-by,  Cesar,  I  hope  that  you  will  ask  Monsieur 
l'Abb6  Loraux  to  dinner  !  " 

"I  have  written  to  him  already,"  said  Cesar. 

"  Oh !  we  must  not  forget  Lebas'  sister-in-law,  Madame 
Augustine  de  Sommervieux,"  said  Cesarine.  "Poor  little 
thing  !  she  is  very  unwell ;  Lebas  said  that  she  was  dying  of 
grief." 

"  See  what  comes  of  marrying  an  artist,"  cried  the  per- 
fumer. "Just  look  at  your  mother;  she  has  fallen  asleep," 
he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  to  his  daughter.  "  By-by — sleep 
softly,  Madame  Cesar.  Well,  now,"  said  C6sar,  turning  to 
his  daughter,  "how  about  your  mother's  dress?" 

"  Yes,  papa,  everything  will  be  ready.  Mamma  thinks 
that  she  is  to  have  a  Canton  crepe  gown  like  mine,  and  the 
dressmaker  is  sure  that  there  is  no  need  to  try  it  on." 

"How  many  are  there  altogether?"  Cdsar  went  on  aloud, 
as  his  wife  opened  her  eyes. 

"  A  hundred  and  nine,  with  the  assistants,"  said  Cesarine. 

"Where  are  we  going  to  put  all  those  people?"  asked 
Mme.  Birotteau.  "  And  when  all  is  over,  after  the  Sunday 
comes  Monday,"  she  said  naively. 

Nothing  can  be  done  simply  when  people  aspire  to  rise 
from  one  social  rank  to  another.  Neither  Mme.  Birotteau, 
nor  C6sar,  nor  any  one  else  might  venture  on  any  pretext 
whatsoever  on  to  the  second  floor.  Cesar  had  promised  the 
errand-boy  Raguet  a  new  suit  of  clothes  if  he  kept  watch 
faithfully  and  carried  out  his  orders  properly.  Like  the  Em- 
peror Napoleon  at  Compiegne,  when  he  had  the  chateau 
restored  for  his  marriage  with  Marie-Louise  of  Austria,  Birot- 
teau wanted  to  see  nothing  until  the  whole  was  finished ;  he 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  161 

meant  to  enjoy  "  the  surprise."  So  all  unconsciously  the 
old  enemies  met,  this  time  not  on  the  field  of  battle,  but  on 
the  common  ground  of  bourgeois  vanity.  M.  Grindot  was  to 
take  Cesar  over  the  new  rooms  like  a  cicerone  exhibiting  a 
gallery  to  a  tourist. 

Every  one  in  the  house,  moreover,  had  his  or  her  own 
"surprise."  Cesarine,  the  dear  child,  had  spent  a  hundred 
louis,  all  her  little  hoard,  on  books  for  her  father.  M.  Grindot 
had  confided  to  her  one  morning  that  there  were  two  fitted 
bookcases  in  her  father's  room,  which  was  to  be  a  study ;  this 
was  the  architect's  surprise ;  and  Cesarine  spent  all  her  savings 
with  a  bookseller.  She  had  bought  the  works  of  Bossuet, 
Racine,  Voltaire,  Jean -Jacques  Rousseau,  Montesquieu,  Mo- 
liere,  Buffon,  Fenelon,  Delille,  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  La 
Fontaine,  Corneille,  Pascal,  and  La  Harpe ;  in  short,  the 
ordinary  collection  of  classics  to  be  seen  everywhere,  books 
which  her  father  would  never  read.  A  terrible  bookbinder's 
bill  must  of  necessity  be  the  result.  Thouvenin,  that  great 
and  unpunctual  artist  and  binder,  had  undertaken  to  send  the 
books  home  on  the  i8th  at  midday.  Cesarine  had  told  her 
uncle  in  confidence  of  her  difficulty,  and  he  had  undertaken 
the  bill.  Cesar's  surprise  for  his  wife  took  the  shape  of  a 
cherry-colored  velvet  gown  trimmed  with  lace ;  it  was  of  this 
dress  that  he  had  just  spoken  to  the  daughter,  who  had  been 
his  accomplice.  Mme.  Birotteau's  surprise  for  the  new 
Chevalier  of  Honor  consisted  of  a  pair  of  gold  buckles  and  a 
solitaire-pin.  Finally,  there  was  the  surprise  of  the  new  rooms 
for  the  whole  family,  to  be  followed  in  a  fortnight  by  the 
great  surprise  of  the  bills  to  be  paid. 

After  mature  reflection,  Cesar  decided  that  some  of  the 
invitations  must  be  given  in  person,  and  some  might  be  de- 
livered by  Raguet  in  the  evening.  He  took  a  cab  and  handed 
his  wife  into  it  (his  wife,  whose  beauty  suffered  a  temporary 
eclipse  from  a  hat  and  feathers  and  the  last  new  shawl,  the 
cashmere  shawl  for  which  she  had  longed  for  fifteen  years), 
11 


162  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

and  away  went  the  perfumers  dressed  in  their  best  to  acquit 
themselves  of  twenty-two  calls  in  a  morning. 

Cesar  spared  his  wife  the  difficulties  attendant  on  straining 
the  resources  of  a  bourgeois  household  to  prepare  the  various 
confections  which  the  splendor  of  the  occasion  demanded. 
A  treaty  was  arranged  between  Birotteau  and  the  great  Chevet. 
Chevet  would  furnish  the  dinner  and  the  wines  ;  he  would 
provide  a  splendid  service  of  plate  (which  brings  in  as  much 
as  an  estate  to  its  owner),  and  a  retinue  of  servants  under  the 
command  of  a  sufficiently  imposing  chief  steward,  all  of  them 
responsible  for  their  sayings  and  doings.  Chevet  was  to  take 
up  his  quarters  in  the  kitchen  and  dining-room  on  the  mezza- 
nine floor,  and  not  to  quit  possession  until  he  had  served  up 
a  dinner  for  twenty  persons  at  six  o'clock,  and  a  grand  colla- 
tion an  hour  after  midnight.  The  ices,  to  be  served  in  pretty 
cups  with  silver-gilt  spoons  on  silver  trays,  would  be  supplied 
by  Foy's  Cafe,  and  the  refreshments  by  Tanrade — an  added 
lustre  to  the  feast. 

"  Be  easy,"  Cesar  said  to  his  wife,  who  looked  somewhat 
over-anxious  on  the  day  before  the  great  day,  "  Chevet,  Tan- 
rade, and  the  people  from  Foy's  Cafe  will  occupy  the  mezza- 
nine floor,  Virginie  will  be  on  guard  above,  and  the  store 
shall  be  shut  up.  There  is  nothing  left  for  us  to  do  but  to 
strut  about  on  the  second  floor." 

On  the  1 6th,  at  two  o'clock,  M.  de  la  Billardiere  came  for 
Cesar.  They  were  to  go  together  to  the  Chancellerie  de  la 
Legion  d'honneur,  where  Birotteau,  with  some  ten  others,  was 
to  be  received  as  a  Chevalier  by  M.  le  Comte  de  Lacepede. 
The  perfumer  had  tears  in  his  eyes  when  the  mayor  came  for 
him ;  the  surprise  which  Constance  had  planned  had  just 
taken  place,  and  C6sar  had  been  presented  with  the  gold 
buckles  and  solitaire. 

"It  is  very  sweet  to  be  so  loved,"  said  he,  as  he  stepped 
into  the  cab;  Constance  and  Cesarine  standing  on  the  thresh- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  163 

old,  and  the  assistants  gathered  in  a  group  to  see  him  go. 
All  of  them  gazed  at  Cesar  in  his  silk  stockings  and  black- 
silk  breeches,  and  the  new  coat  of  cornflower-blue  on  which 
the  ribbon  was  about  to  blaze — the  red  ribbon  which,  accord- 
ing to  Molineux,  had  been  steeped  in  blood. 

When  Cesar  came  back  at  dinner-time,  he  was  pale  with 
joy.  He  looked  at  his  cross  in  every  looking-glass,  for  in  his 
first  intoxication  he  could  not  be  content  to  wear  the  ribbon 
only ;  there  was  no  tinge  of  false  modesty  about  his  elation. 

"The  grand  chancellor  is  charming,  dear,"  said  he;  "at 
a  word  from  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere,  he  accepted  my  in- 
vitation ;  he  is  coming  with  Monsieur  Vauquelin.  De  Lace- 
pede  is  a  great  man,  yes,  as  great  as  Vauquelin.  He  has 
written  forty  volumes.  And  then  he  is  a  peer  of  France  as 
well  as  an  author.  We  must  not  forget  to  say  '  Your  Lord- 
ship '  or  '  Monsieur  le  Comte  '  when  we  address  him." 

"  Do  eat  your  dinner,"  remarked  his  wife.  "Your  father 
is  worse  than  a  child,"  Constance  added,  looking  at  C6sarine. 

"  How  nice  that  looks  at  your  button-hole  !  "  said  Cesarine. 
"They  will  present  arms  when  you  pass  ;  we  will  go  out  to- 
gether !  " 

"  All  the  sentries  will  present  arms  to  me." 

Grindot  and  Braschon  came  downstairs  as  he  spoke.  "  After 
dinner,  sir,  you  and  madame  and  mademoiselle  may  like  to 
look  over  the  rooms  ;  Braschon 's  foreman  is  just  putting  up  a 
few  curtain  brackets,  and  three  men  are  lighting  the  candles." 

"You  will  need  a  hundred  and  twenty  candles,"  said 
Braschon. 

"A  bill  for  two  hundred  francs  from  Trudon,"  began 
Mme.  C6sar,  but  a  look  from  the  chevalier  checked  her 
lamentations. 

"Your  fete  will  be  magnificent,  Monsieur  le  Chevalier," 
put  in  Braschon. 

"  Flatterers  already  !  "  Cesar  thought  within  himself.  "The 
good  Abbe  Loraux  enjoined  it  upon  me  not  to  fall  into  their 


164  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

snares  and  to  remain  humble ;  I  will  always  keep  my  origin 
in  mind." 

But  Cesar  did  not  understand  the  drift  of  the  remark  let 
fall  by  the  rich  upholsterer  of  the  Rue  Saint-Antoine. 
Braschon  had  made  a  dozen  futile  efforts  to  secure  invita- 
tions for  himself  and  his  wife,  his  daughter,  aunt,  and 
mother-in-law.  And  so  Cesar  made  an  enemy.  On  the 
threshold,  Braschon  did  not  call  him  again  "  Monsieur  le 
Chevalier." 

Then  came  the  private  view.  Cesar  and  his  wife  and 
Cesarine  went  out  through  the  store  and  came  in  from  the 
street.  The  door  had  been  reconstructed  in  a  grand  style, 
the  two  leaves  were  divided  up  into  square  panels,  and  in 
the  centre  of  each  panel  was  a  cast-iron  ornament,  duly 
painted.  This  kind  of  door,  which  is  now  so  common  in 
Paris,  was  at  that  time  the  very  newest  thing.  Beneath 
the  double  staircase  in  the  vestibule,  opposite  the  door,  in 
the  plinth  which  had  so  disturbed  Cesar's  mind,  a  sort  of 
box  had  been  contrived  where  an  old  woman  could  be  en- 
sconced. The  vestibule,  with  its  black-and-white  marble 
floor  and  its  walls  painted  to  look  like  marble,  was  lighted 
by  a  lamp  of  antique  pattern,  with  four  sockets  for  the 
wicks.  The  architect  had  combined  a  rich  effect  with  ap- 
parent simplicity.  A  narrow  crimson  carpet  relieved  the 
whiteness  of  the  stone.  The  first  landing  gave  access  to  the 
mezzanine  floor.  The  door  on  the  staircase,  which  gave 
access  to  the  second-floor  rooms,  was  in  the  same  style  as 
the  street-door,  but  this  was  a  piece  of  cabinet-work. 

"  How  charming  !  "  said  Cesarine.  "And  yet  there  is  noth- 
ing which  catches  the  eye." 

"  Exactly,  mademoiselle,  the  effect  is  produced  by  the  exact 
proportions  of  the  stylobates,  the  plinths,  the  cornice,  and 
the  ornaments  ;  and  then  I  have  not  employed  gilding  any- 
where ;  the  colors  are  subdued,  and  there  are  no  glaring 
tones." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  .  165 

"It  is  a  science,"  said  Cesarine. 

Then  they  entered  the  anteroom ;  it  was  simple,  spacious, 
and  tastefully  decorated ;  a  parquet  floor  had  been  laid  down. 
The  drawing-room  was  lighted  by  three  windows,  which 
looked  upon  the  street ;  here  the  colors  were  white  and 
red  ;  the  outlines  of  the  cornices  were  delicate,  so  was  the 
paint.  There  was  nothing  to  dazzle  the  eyes.  The  orna- 
ments on  the  mantel,  of  white  marble  supported  on  white 
marble  columns,  had  been  carefully  chosen ;  there  was  noth- 
ing tawdry  about  them,  and  they  were  in  keeping  with  the 
details  of  the  furniture.  In  fact,  throughout  the  room  a  subtle 
harmony  prevailed,  such  as  none  but  an  artist  can  establish, 
by  subordinating  everything,  down  to  the  least  accessories,  to 
the  general  scheme  of  decoration ;  a  harmony  which  strikes 
the  philistine,  though  he  cannot  account  for  it.  The  light 
of  twenty-four  wax-candles  in  the  chandelier  displayed  the 
glories  of  the  crimson-silk  curtains  ;  the  parquet  floor  tempted 
Cesarine  to  dance.  Through  a  green-and-white  boudoir  they 
reached  Cesar's  study. 

"I  have  put  a  bed  here,"  said  Grindot,  throwing  open  the 
doors  of  an  alcove,  cleverly  concealed  between  the  two  book- 
cases. "  Either  you  or  Madame  Birotteau  may  fall  ill,  and  an 
invalid  requires  a  separate  room." 

"  But  the  bookcase  is  full  of  bound  books !  Oh  !  wife, 
wife  ! ' '  cried  Cesar. 

"No,  this  is  Cesarine's  surprise." 

"Pardon  a  father's  emotion,"  exclaimed  Birotteau,  em- 
bracing his  daughter. 

"  Of  course,  of  course,  sir,"  said  Grindot.  "You  are  in 
your  own  house." 

The  prevailing  tone  of  the  study  was  brown,  relieved  by 
green  ;  for  by  skillful  modulations  all  the  rooms  were  brought 
into  harmony  with  each  other.  Thus  the  prevailing  color  of 
one  room  was  more  sparingly  introduced  as  a  subsidiary  in 
another,  and  vice  versd.  The  print  of  "  Hero  and  Le- 


166  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

ander  "  shone  conspicuous  from  a  fine  panel  in  Cesar's  new 
sanctum. 

"And you  are  to  pay  for  all  this?  "  Cesar  said  merrily. 

"  That  beautiful  engraving  is  Monsieur  Anselme's  gift  to 
you,"  said  Cesar  inc. 

(Anselme,  like  the  others,  had  managed  to  afford  his  sur- 
prise.) 

"  Poor  boy  !  he  has  done  as  I  did  for  Monsieur  Vau- 
quelin." 

Mme.  Birotteau's  room  came  next  in  order.  Here  the  ar- 
chitect had  lavished  splendors  to  please  the  good  folk  whom 
he  wished  to  use  to  his  own  ends.  He  had  promised  to  make 
a  study  of  this  redecoration,  and  he  had  kept  his  word.  The 
room  was  hung  with  blue  silk,  but  the  cords  and  tassels  were 
white ;  while  the  furniture,  covered  with  white  cashmere,  was 
relieved  with  blue.  The  clock  on  the  white  marble  mantel 
took  the  form  of  a  marble  slab,  on  which  Venus  reclined. 
The  pretty  Wilton  carpet,  of  Eastern  design,  was  the  keynote 
of  C£sarine's  apartment,  a  dainty  little  bedroom  hung  with 
chintz  ;  there  stood  her  piano,  a  pretty  wardrobe  with  a  mirror 
in  it,  a  small  white  bed  with  plain  curtains,  and  all  the  little 
possessions  that  girls  love. 

The  dining-room  lay  behind  Cesar's  study  and  the  blue- 
and-white  bedroom,  and  was  entered  by  a  door  on  the  stair- 
case. Here  the  decorations  were  in  the  style  known  as  Louis 
XIV.  The  sideboards  were  inlaid  with  brass  and  tortoise- 
shell  ;  there  was  a  boule  clock ;  and  the  walls  were  hung  with 
stuffs  and  adorned  with  gilt  studs. 

No  words  can  describe  the  joy  of  these  three  human  beings, 
which  reached  its  height  when  Mme.  Birotteau,  returning  to 
her  room,  found  her  new  dress  lying  there  on  the  bed  ;  the 
cherry-colored  velvet  gown,  trimmed  with  lace,  which  her 
husband  had  given  her.  Virgin ie  had  stolen  in  on  tiptoe  to 
lay  it  there. 

"The  rooms  do  you  great  credit,  sir,"  Constance  said,  ad- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  167 

dressing  Grindot.  "  More  than  a  hundred  people  will  be  here 
to-morrow  evening,  and  you  will  be  complimented  by  every- 
body." 

"I  shall  recommend  you,"  said  Cesar.  "You  will  meet 
all  the  first-rate  people,  and  you  will  be  better  known  in  a 
single  evening  than  if  you  had  built  a  hundred  houses." 

Constance,  touched  by  what  had  happened,  no  longer 
thought  of  the  expense  or  of  criticising  her  husband,  and  for 
the  following  reasons :  That  morning,  when  Popinot  had 
brought  the  "  Hero  and  Leander,"  he  had  assured  her  that 
the  Cephalic  Oil  would  be  a  success ;  Constance  had  always 
had  a  high  opinion  of  Popinot's  abilities  and  intelligence,  and 
Popinot  was  working  with  unheard-of  enthusiasm.  The 
money  lavished  by  Birotteau  on  these  extravagancies  might 
amount  to  a  good  round  sum ;  but  the  young  lover  had 
promised  that,  in  six  months'  time,  Birotteau' s  share  of  the 
profits  on  the  sales  of  the  oil  would  cover  them.  After  nine- 
teen years  of  apprehension,  it  was  so  sweet  to  put  doubts 
aside  for  a  single  day ;  and  Constance  promised  her  daughter 
that  she  would  not  spoil  her  husband's  joy  by  any  after-thought, 
but  would  give  herself  up  entirely  to  gladness.  So  when  M. 
Grindot  left  them  about  eleven  o'clock,  she  flung  her  arms 
about  her  husband's  neck  and  shed  a  few  tears  of  joy. 

"Ah,  Cesar,"  she  said,  "you  make  me  very  silly  and  very 
happy." 

"  If  it  will  only  last,  you  mean,  do  you  not  ?  "  C6sar  asked, 
smiling. 

"It  will  last ;  I  have  no  fear  now,"  said  Mme.  Cesar. 

"That  is  right;  you  appreciate  me  at  last." 

Those  who  have  sufficient  greatness  of  character  to  know 
their  weaknesses  will  confess  that  a  poor  orphan  girl  who, 
eighteen  years  ago,  had  been  earning  her  living  behind  the 
counter  of  the  Little  Sailor  in  the  He  Saint-Louis,  and  a  poor 
peasant-lad  who  had  come  on  foot  from  Touraine,  stick  in  hand 
and  with  hobnailed  shoes  on  his  feet,  might  well  feel  gratified 


168  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

and  happy  to  give  such  a  fete  on  an  occasion  so  much  to  their 
credit. 

"  My  God,  I  would  willingly  give  a  hundred  francs  for  a 
visitor,"  cried  Cesar. 

"Monsieur  1'Abbe  Loraux,"  announced  Virginie,  and  the 
abb6  appeared.  The  priest  was  at  this  time  curate  of  Saint- 
Sulpice.  Never  has  the  power  of  the  soul  been  more  plainly 
revealed  than  in  this  reverend  ecclesiastic,  who  left  a  pro- 
found impression  on  the  minds  of  all  those  with  whom  he 
came  in  contact.  The  exercise  of  Catholic  virtues  had  given 
sublimity  to  a  harsh  face,  almost  repellent  in  its  ugliness ;  it 
was  as  if  something  of  the  light  of  heaven  shone  from  it  before 
the  time.  The  influences  of  a  simple  and  sincere  life,  passing 
into  the  blood,  had  modified  those  rugged  features,  the  fires 
of  charity  had  chastened  their  uncouth  outlines.  In  Cla- 
paron's  case,  the  nature  of  the  man  had  stamped  itself  on  his 
face  and  degraded  and  brutalized  it,  but  here  the  grace  of  the 
three  fair  human  virtues,  Hope,  Faith,  and  Charity,  hovered 
about  the  wrinkled  lines.  There  was  a  penetrating  power  in 
his  words,  slowly  and  gently  spoken.  He  dressed  like  other 
priests  in  Paris,  and  allowed  himself  a  chestnut-brown  over- 
coat. No  trace  of  ambition  had  sullied  the  pure  heart,  which 
the  angels  would  surely  bear  to  God  in  its  primitive  inno- 
cence ;  it  had  required  all  the  kindly  urgency  of  the  daughter 
of  Louis  XVI.  to  induce  the  Abbe  Loraux  to  accept  a  benefice 
in  Paris,  and  then  he  had  taken  one  of  the  poorest. 

Just  now  he  looked  somewhat  disquieted  as  he  surveyed 
all  these  splendors;  he  smiled  at  the  three  before  him  and 
shook  his  head. 

"Children,"  he  said,  "  it  is  my  part  to  comfort  those  that 
mourn,  and  not  to  be  present  at  festivals.  I  have  come  to 
thank  Monsieur  C6sar  and  to  congratulate  you.  There  is  only 
one  festival  that  will  bring  me  here — the  marriage  of  this 
pretty  maid." 

A  quarter  of  an  hour  later  the  abb6  took  his  leave,  and 


CESAR  B1KOT1EAU.  169 

neither  Cesar  nor  his  wife  had  dared  to  show  him  the  new 
arrangements.  The  sober  apparition  threw  a  few  drops  of 
cold  water  on  Cesar's  joyous  ebullitions. 

They  slept  that  night  amid  the  new  glories,  each  taking 
possession  of  the  little  luxuries  and  pretty  furniture  for  which 
they  had  longed.  Cesarine  helped  her  mother  to  undress 
before  the  mirror  of  the  white  marble  toilet  table;  Cesar  was 
fain  to  use  his  newly  acquired  superfluities  at  once ;  and  the 
heads  of  all  the  three  were  filled  with  visions  of  the  joys  of  the 
morrow. 

The  next  day,  at  four  o'clock,  they  had  been  to  mass  and 
had  read  vespers;  the  mezzanine  floor  had  been  delivered  over 
to  the  secular  arm,  in  the  shape  of  Chevet's  people,  and  Ce- 
sarine and  her  mother  betook  themselves  to  their  toilets. 
Never  was  costume  more  becoming  to  Mme.  Cesar  than  the 
cherry-colored  velvet  gown  with  the  lace  about  it,  the  short 
sleeves  adorned  with  lappets ;  the  rich  stuff  and  the  glowing 
color  set  off  the  youthful  freshness  of  her  shapely  arms,  the 
dazzling  whiteness  of  her  skin,  the  gracious  outlines  of  her 
neck  and  shoulders.  The  naive  happiness  felt  by  every 
woman  when  she  is  conscious  that  she  looks  at  her  best  lent  a 
vague  sweetness  to  Mme.  Birotteau's  Grecian  profile;  and  the 
outlines  of  her  face,  finely  cut  as  a  cameo,  appeared  in  all  their 
delicate  beauty.  Cesarine,  in  her  white  crepe  dress,  with  a 
wreath  of  white  roses  in  her  hair  and  a  rose  at  her  waist,  her 
shoulders  and  the  outlines  of  her  bodice  modestly  covered  by 
a  scarf,  turned  Popinot's  head. 

"  These  people  are  eclipsing  us,"  said  Mme.  Roguin  to  her 
husband,  as  she  went  through  the  rooms. 

The  notary's  wife  was  furious.  A  woman  can  always 
measure  the  superiority  or  inferiority  of  a  rival,  and  Mme. 
Roguin  felt  that  she  was  not  as  beautiful  as  Mme.  C6sar. 

"Pooh,  not  for  long.  In  a  little  while  the  poor  thing  will 
be  ruined,  and  your  carriage  will  splash  the  mud  on  her  as 
she  goes  afoot  through  the  streets." 


170  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Vauquelin's  manner  was  perfect.  He  came  with  M.  de 
Lacepede,  who  had  brought  his  colleague  in  his  carriage.  To 
Mme.  Cesar,  in  her  radiant  beauty,  the  two  learned  Acade- 
micians paid  compliments  in  scientific  language. 

"You  possess  the  secret,  unknown  to  chemistry,  of  retain- 
ing youth  and  beauty,  madame." 

"You  are  in  your  own  house,  so  to  speak,  Monsieur 
1' Academician,"  said  Birottcau.  "  Yes,  Monsieur  le  Comte," 
he  went  on,  turning  to  the  Grand  Chancellor  of  the  Legion 
of  Honor,  "  I  owe  my  success  to  Monsieur  Vauquelin.  I 
have  the  honor  of  presenting  to  your  lordship  Monsieur  le 
President  (of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce).  That  is  Monsieur 
le  Comte  de  Lacepede,  a  peer  of  France,  and  one  of  the 
greatest  men  in  France  beside  ;  he  has  written  forty  volumes," 
he  added,  for  the  benefit  of  Joseph  Lebas,  who  came  with  the 
president. 

The  guests  were  punctual.  The  ordinary  tradesman's 
dinner-party  followed,  abundant  in  good  humor  and  merri- 
ment, and  enlivened  by  the  homely  jokes  that  never  fail  to 
provoke  laughter.  Ample  justice  was  done  to  the  excellent 
dishes,  and  the  wines  were  thoroughly  appreciated.  It  was 
half-past  nine  before  they  went  into  the  drawing-room  for 
coffee,  and  cabs  had  already  begun  to  arrive  with  impatient 
dancers.  An  hour  later  the  rooms  were  full,  and  the  dance 
had  become  a  crush.  M.  de  Lacepede  and  M.  Vauquelin 
•went,  in  spite  of  entreaties  from  C6sar,  who  followed  them 
despairingly  to  the  staircase.  He  had  better  fortune  with  the 
elder  Popinot  and  M.  de  la  Billardiere,  who  remained. 

With  the  exception  of  three  women,  Mile.  Fontaine,  Mme. 
Jules,  and  Mme.  Rabourdin,  who  severally  represented  aris- 
tocracy, finance,  and  official  dignities,  and  by  their  brilliant 
beauty,  dress,  and  manner  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
rest  of  the  assembly,  the  toilets  of  the  remainder  were  of  the 
heavy  and  substantial  order,  too  suggestive  of  a  well-lined 
purse,  which  gives  to  a  crowd  of  citizens'  wives  and  daughters 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  171 

a  certain  air  of  vulgarity,  made  cruelly  prominent  in  the  present 
case  by  the  daintiness  and  grace  of  the  three  ladies. 

The  bourgeoisie  of  the  Rue  Saint-Denis  displayed  itself 
majestically  in  the  full  glory  of  its  absurdities  carried  to  the 
burlesque  point.  It  was  that  same  bourgeoisie,  nor  more  nor 
less,  which  tricks  its  offspring  out  in  the  uniform  of  the  Lancers 
or  of  the  National  Guard,  that  buys  "  Victories  and  Con- 
quests," "  The  Old  Soldier  at  the  Plough,"  and  admires  "  The 
Pauper's  Funeral,"  which  rejoices  to  go  on  guard,  goes  on 
Sundays  to  the  inevitable  country-house,  is  at  pains  to  acquire 
a  distinguished  air,  and  dreams  of  municipal  honors  ;  the 
bourgeoisie  that  looks  on  every  one  with  jealous  eyes,  and  yet 
is  kindly,  helpful,  devoted,  warm-hearted,  and  compassionate, 
ready  to  subscribe  for  the  orphan  children  of  a  General  Foy, 
for  the  Greeks  (all  unwitting  of  their  piracies),  for  the  Champ 
d'Asile  when  it  no  longer  exists ;  a  bourgeoisie  that  falls  a 
victim  to  its  own  good  qualities,  and  is  flouted  by  a  social 
superiority  which  marks  a  real  inferiority,  for  an  ignorance  of 
social  conventions  fosters  that  native  kindliness  of  heart ;  a 
bourgeoisie  which  brings  up  frank-hearted  daughters  inured  to 
work,  full  of  good  qualities,  which  are  lost  at  once  if  they 
mingle  with  the  classes  above  them  ;  a  commonsense,  matter- 
of-fact  womankind,  from  among  whom  the  worthy  Chrysale 
should  have  taken  a  wife ;  that  bourgeoisie,  in  short,  so  admir- 
ably represented  by  the  Matifats,  the  druggists  in  the  Rue  des 
Lombards,  who  had  supplied  the  Queen  of  Roses  for  sixty 
years. 

Mme.  Matifat,  anxious  to  appear  stately,  wore  a  turban  on 
her  head,  and  was  dancing  in  a  heavy  poppy-red  gown  em- 
broidered with  gold,  a  toilet  that  harmonized  with  a  haughty 
countenance,  a  Roman  nose,  and  the  splendors  of  a  crimson 
complexion.  Even  M.  Matifat,  so  glorious  when  the  National 
Guard  was  reviewed,  when  you  might  see  the  chain  and  bunch 
of  seals  blazing  on  his  portly  person  fifty  paces  away,  was 
obscured  by  this  Catherine  II.  of  the  counting-house ;  yet  her 


172  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

short,  stout,  spectacled  consort,  with  his  shirt  collar  almost  up 
to  his  ears,  distinguished  himself  by  his  deep  bass  voice  and 
by  the  richness  of  his  vocabulary. 

He  never  said  "  Corneille,"  but  "  the  sublime  Corneille." 
Racine  was  the  "tender  Racine;"  Voltaire,  oh!  Voltaire, 
"  takes  the  second  place  in  every  class,  more  of  a  wit  than  a 
genius,  but  nevertheless  a  man  of  genius!"  Rousseau,  "a 
gloomy,  suspicious  nature,  a  man  overbrimming  with  pride, 
who  ended  by  hanging  himself."  He  related  tedious  stock 
anecdotes  about  Piron,  who  is  looked  upon  as  a  prodigious 
personage  among  the  bourgeoisie.  There  was  a  slight  ten- 
dency to  obscenity  in  Matifat's  conversation ;  he  was  an  in- 
fatuated admirer  of  theatrical  divinities ;  and  it  was  even  said 
of  him  that,  in  imitation  of  old  Cardot  and  the  wealthy  Cam- 
usot,  he  kept  a  mistress.  Now  and  then  Mme.  Matifat  would 
hastily  interrupt  him  on  the  brink  of  an  anecdote  by  crying, 
at  the  top  of  her  voice,  "  Mind  what  you  are  going  to  tell  us, 
old  man  !  "  In  familiar  conversation  she  always  addressed 
him  as  "old  man."  The  voluminous  lady  of  the  Rue  des 
Lombards  caused  Mile,  de  Fontaine's  aristocratic  coun- 
tenance to  lose  its  repose ;  the  haughty  damsel  could  not  help 
smiling  when  she  overheard  Mme.  Matifat  say  to  her  husband, 
"  Don't  make  a  rush  for  the  ices,  old  man  ;  it  is  bad  style  !  " 

It  is  harder  to  explain  the  differences  which  distinguish 
the  great  world  from  the  bourgeoisie  than  it  is  for  the  bour- 
geoisie to  efface  them.  The  women,  conscious  of  their  toil- 
ets, felt  that  this  was  a  holiday ;  they  made  no  attempt  to 
conceal  an  enjoyment  which  plainly  showed  that  this  ball  was 
a  great  event  in  their  busy  lives ;  while  the  three  women,  each 
of  whom  represented  a  different  higher  social  sphere,  were  at 
that  moment  as  they  would  be  on  the  morrow.  They  did  not 
seem  to  be  dressed  for  the  occasion,  had  no  desire  to  behold 
themselves  amid  the  unaccustomed  marvels  of  their  costume, 
and  showed  no  uneasiness  as  to  its  effect,  which  they  had 
ascertained  once  and  for  all  as  they  put  the  last  touches  to 


C&SAX   BIROTTEAU.  173 

their  ball-dresses  before  the  mirror ;  there  was  no  excitement 
in  their  faces ;  they  danced  with  the  grace  and  ease  of  move- 
ment which  the  forgotten  sculptors  of  a  bygone  age  caught 
and  recorded  in  their  statues.  But  the  others  bore  the  im- 
press of  daily  toil — toil  showed  itself  in  their  attitude,  in  their 
exaggerated  enjoyment ;  their  glances  were  nai'vely  curious, 
their  voices  were  not  subdued  to  the  key  of  the  low  murmur 
which  gives  such  an  inimitable  piquancy  to  ballroom  conver- 
sations; and,  above  all  things,  they  lacked  the  impertinent 
gravity  which  contains  the  germ  of  epigram,  the  repose  of 
manner  which  marks  those  whose  self-command  is  perfect. 
So  Mme.  Rabourdin,  Mme.  Jules,  and  Mile,  de  Fontaine, 
who  had  expected  infinite  amusement  from  this  perfumer's 
ball,  stood  out  against  the  background  of  citizens'  wives  and 
daughters,  conspicuous  by  their  languid  grace,  by  the  exquisite 
taste  displayed  in  their  toilets,  and  by  their  manner  of  dan- 
cing, even  as  three  principal  performers  at  the  opera  are  set 
off  by  the  rank  and  file  of  supernumeraries  on  the  stage.  Jeal- 
ous and  astonished  eyes  watched  them.  Mme.  Roguin,  Con- 
stance, and  Cesarine  formed  a  link,  as  it  were,  between  these 
three  aristocratic  types  and  the  tradesmen's  womankind. 

At  every  ball  a  moment  comes  when  excitement  or  the 
torrents  of  light,  the  gaiety,  the  music,  and  the  movement  of 
the  dance  carries  away  the  dancers,  and  all  the  shades  of  dif- 
ference are  drowned  in  the  crescendo  of  the  tutti.  In  a  little 
while  the  ball  would  become  a  romp.  Mile,  de  Fontaine  de- 
termined to  go ;  but,  as  she  sought  the  venerable  Vendean 
leader's  arm,  Birotteau  and  his  wife  and  daughter  hastened  to 
prevent  the  defection  of  the  aristocracy  of  their  assembly. 

"There  is  a  perfume  of  good  taste  about  the  rooms  which 
really  surprises  me;  I  congratulate  you  upon  it,"  said  the 
insolent  girl,  addressing  the  perfumer. 

Birotteau  was  too  much  intoxicated  by  the  compliments 
publicly  addressed  to  him  to  understand  this  speech ;  but  his 
wife  flushed  up  and  did  not  know  what  to  answer. 


174  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

11  This  is  a  national  festival  which  does  you  honor,"  Camu- 
sot  said. 

"  I  have  seldom  seen  so  fine  a  ball,"  said  Monsieur  de  la 
Billardiere,  an  official  fib  that  cost  him  nothing. 

Birotteau  took  all  the  congratulations  seriously. 

"  What  a  charming  sight,  and  how  good  the  band  is  !  Shall 
you  often  give  us  balls?"  asked  Mme.  Lebas. 

"What  beautiful  rooms  !  Did  you  plan  them  yourself?" 
inquired  Mme.  Desmarets,  and  Cesar  ventured  on  a  lie,  and 
allowed  it  to  be  thought  that  he  was  the  originator  of  the 
scheme  of  decoration.  Cesarine,  whose  list  of  partners  for 
the  quadrilles  was  of  course  filled  up,  learned  how  much 
delicacy  there  was  in  Anselme's  nature. 

"  If  I  only  listened  to  my  own  wishes,"  he  had  said  in  her 
ear  as  they  arose  from  dinner,  "  I  would  entreat  the  favor  of 
a  quadrille  with  you,  but  my  happiness  would  cost  our  self- 
love  too  dear." 

Cesarine,  who  thought  all  men  who  walked  straight  ungrace- 
ful in  their  gait,  determined  to  open  the  ball  with  Popinot. 
Popinot,  encouraged  by  his  aunt,  who  had  bade  him  be 
bold,  dared  to  speak  of  his  love  during  the  quadrille  to  the 
charming  girl  at  his  side,  but  in  the  roundabout  ways  that 
timid  lovers  take. 

"  My  fortune  depends  on  you,  mademoiselle." 

"And  how?" 

"There  is  but  one  hope  which  can  give  me  the  power  to 
make  it." 

"Then  hope." 

"  Do  you  really  know  all  that  you  have  said  in  those  two 
words?"  asked  Popinot. 

"Hope  for  fortune,"  said  Cesarine,  with  a  mischievous 
smile. 

As  soon  as  the  quadrille  was  over,  Anselme  rushed  to  his 
friend.  "  Gaudissart !  Gaudissart !  succeed,  or  I  shall  blow 
my  brains  out !  "  He  squeezed  his  friend's  arm  in  a  Hercu- 


C£SAR  BIROTTEAU.  175 

lean  grasp.  "Success  means  that  I  shall  marry  Cesarine. 
She  has  told  me  so;  and  see  how  beautiful  she  is !  " 

"Yes,  she  is  prettily  rigged  out,"  said  Gaudissart;  "and 
she  is  rich.  We  will  do  her  in  oil." 

The  good  understanding  between  Mile.  Lourdois  and 
Alexandre  Crottat  (Roguin's  successor-designate)  did  not 
escape  Mme.  Birotteau,  who  could  not  give  up  without  a  pang 
the  prospect  of  seeing  her  daughter  the  wife  of  a  Paris  notary. 
Uncle  Pillerault,  after  exchanging  a  greeting  with  little  Mol- 
ineux,  took  up  his  quarters  in  an  easy-chair  near  the  bookcase. 
Hence  he  watched  the  card-players,  listened  to  the  talk  about 
him,  and  went  from  time  to  time  to  the  door  to  look  at  the 
moving  flower-garden  as  the  dancers'  heads  swayed  in  the 
figures  of  the  quadrille.  He  turned  a  truly  philosophical 
countenance  on  it  all.  The  men  were  unspeakable,  with  the 
exception  of  du  Tillet,  who  had  already  learned  something  of 
the  manners  of  the  fashionable  world ;  of  young  Billardiere, 
an  incipient  dandy ;  M.  Jules  Desmartes,  and  the  official  per- 
sonages. But  among  the  faces,  all  more  or  less  comical,  which 
gave  the  assembly  its  character,  there  was  one  in  particular, 
worn  into  meaningless  smoothness,  like  the  head  on  a  five- 
franc  piece  issued  by  the  Republic,  but  curious  by  reason  of 
its  association  with  a  suit  of  clothes.  This  person,  it  will 
have  been  guessed,  was  none  other  than  the  petty  tyrant  of 
the  Cour  Batave,  arrayed  in  fine  linen,  yellowed  with  lying- 
by  in  the  press,  displaying  a  shirt  frill  of  venerable  lace, 
secured  by  a  pin  with  a  bluish  cameo.  Short  breeches  of 
black  silk  treacherously  revealed  the  spindle  shanks  on  which 
he  dared  to  repose  his  weight.  Cesar  triumphantly  took  him 
around  the  four  apartments  devised  by  the  architect  on  the 
second  floor  of  his  house. 

"Hey!  hey!  it  is  your  own  affair,  shy'  said  Molineux. 
"  My  second  floor  done  up  in  this  way  will  be  worth  another 
thousand  crowns." 

Birotteau  turned  this  off  with  a  joke,  but  the  little  old 


176  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

man's  words  and  tone  had  been  like  the  prick  of  a  needle. 
"  I  shall  soon  have  my  second  floor  again  ;  this  man  is  ruin- 
ing himself!  "  that  was  the  underlying  sense  of  that  "  will be 
worth,11  which  had  been  a  sudden  revelation  of  Molineux's 
claws. 

The  pale,  meagre  face  and  cruel  eyes  struck  du  Tillet,  whose 
attention  had  been  called  to  the  landlord  in  the  first  instance 
by  the  watch-chain  from  which  a  pound  weight  of  trinkets 
hung  and  jingled,  the  green  coat  with  white  threads  in  it,  and 
the  odd-looking,  turned-up  collar,  which  gave  the  old  man 
somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  rattlesnake.  So  the  banker 
went  over  to  the  little  money-lender  to  learn  how  he  came  to 
be  at  a  merry-making. 

"  Here,  sir,"  said  Molineux,  putting  a  foot  into  the  boudoir, 
"  I  am  on  Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Granville's  property,  but 
here  "  (he  pointed  to  the  other  foot)  "  I  am  on  my  own,  for 
this  house  belongs  to  me." 

And  Molineux,  more  than  willing  to  gratify  the  only  one 
who  had  a  mind  to  listen  to  him,  was  so  charmed  with  du 
Tillet's  attentive  attitude  that  he  described  himself  and  gave 
an  account  of  his  habits,  together  with  a  complete  history  of 
the  sauciness  of  Master  Gendrin  and  an  exact  relation  of  his 
transactions  with  the  perfumer,  without  which  transaction  the 
ball  would  not  have  taken  place. 

"Ah!  so  Monsieur  Cesar  has  paid  his  rent  beforehand," 
said  du  Tillet ;  "nothing  is  more  contrary  to  his  habits." 

"  Oh  !  I  asked  him  to  do  so ;  I  am  so  accommodating  with 
my  tenants  !  " 

"  If  old  Birotteau  goes  bankrupt,"  thought  du  Tillet,  "  that 
little  rogue  will  certainly  make  a  capital  assignee.  Such  cap- 
tiousness  is  not  often  met  with ;  he  must  amuse  himself  at 
home,  like  Domitian,  by  killing  flies  when  he  is  alone." 

Du  Tillet  betook  himself  to  the  card-tables,  where  Claparon 
(by  his  orders)  had  already  taken  his  post.  Du  Tillet  thought 
that,  screened  by  a  lamp-shade,  at  bouillotte,  his  dummy- 


CESAR  B1ROTTEAU.  177 

banker  would  escape  all  scrutiny.  As  they  sat  opposite  one 
another,  they  looked  such  perfect  strangers  that  the  most  sus- 
picious observer  could  have  discovered  no  sign  of  an  under- 
standing between  them.  Gaudissart,  who  knew  that  Claparon 
had  risen  in  the  world,  did  not  dare  to  approach  him  ;  the 
wealthy  ex-commercial  traveler  had  given  him  the  portentously 
cool  stare  of  an  upstart  who  does  not  care  to  be  claimed  by 
an  old  acquaintance. 

Toward  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  ball  came  to  an 
end,  like  a  spent  rocket.  By  that  time  there  only  remained 
some  forty  cabs  out  of  a  hundred  or  more  which  had  filled 
the  Rue  Saint-Honor6 ;  and  in  the  ballroom  they  were  dan- 
cing the  boulangere,  which  later  was  succeeded  by  the  cotillon 
and  the  English  galop.  Du  Tillet,  Roguin,  young  Cardot, 
Jules  Desmarets,  and  the  Comte  de  Granville  were  playing 
bouillotte.  Du  Tillet  had  won  three  thousand  francs.  The 
light  of  the  wax-candles  was  growing  pale  in  the  dawn  when 
the  card-players  rose  to  join  in  the  last  quadrille. 

In  bourgeois  houses  this  supreme  enjoyment  never  comes  to 
an  end  without  some  enormities.  Those  who  imposed  awe 
or  restraint  on  the  others  are  gone ;  the  intoxication  of  move- 
ment, the  hot  rooms,  the  spirits  that  lurk  in  the  most  harm- 
less beverages,  relax  the  stiffness  of  the  dowagers,  who  allow 
themselves  to  be  drawn  into  the  quadrilles,  and  yield  to  the 
excitement  of  the  moment ;  men  are  heated,  the  lank  hair 
comes  down  over  their  faces,  and  their  grotesque  appearance 
provokes  laughter;  the  younger  women  grow  frivolous,  flowers 
have  fallen  here  and  there  from  their  hair.  Then  it  is  that 
the  bourgeois  Momus  enters,  followed  by  his  antic  crew ! 
Laughter  breaks  out  in  peals,  and  every  one  gives  himself  up 
to  the  merriment,  thinking  that  with  morning  labor  will  re- 
sume its  sway  over  him.  Matifat  was  dancing  with  a  woman's 
hat  on  his  head  ;  Celestin  was  indulging  in  burlesque  move- 
ments. A  few  of  the  ladies  clapped  their  hands  noisily  when 
they  changed  the  figures  of  the  interminable  quadrille. 
12 


178  CJ&SAX  BIROTTEAU. 

"How  they  are  enjoying  themselves!"  said  the  happy 
Birotteau. 

"If  only  they  break  nothing,"  said  Constance,  who  stood 
by  Uncle  Pillerault. 

"  You  have  given  the  most  magnificent  ball  that  I  have 
seen,  and  I  have  seen  many,"  said  du  Tillet,  with  a  bow  to 
his  late  employer. 

There  is  in  one  of  Beethoven's  eight  symphonies  a  fantasia 
like  a  great  poem ;  it  is  the  culminating  point  of  the  finale 
of  the  symphony  in  C  minor.  When,  after  the  slow  prep- 
aration of  the  mighty  magician,  so  well  understood  by 
Habeneck,  the  rich  curtain  rises  on  this  scene;  when  the 
bow  of  the  enthusiastic  leader  of  the  orchestra  calls  forth  the 
dazzling  ntottf,  through  which  the  whole  gathered  force  of  the 
music  flows,  the  poet,  as  his  heart  beats  fast,  will  understand 
that  this  ball  was  in  Birotteau's  life  like  this  moment  when 
his  own  imagination  feels  the  quickening  power  of  the  music, 
of  this  motif,  which  in  itself,  perhaps,  raises  the  symphony  in 
C  minor  above  its  glorious  sisters.  For  a  radiant  fairy  springs 
up  and  waves  her  wand,  and  you  hear  the  rustling  of  the 
purple  silken  curtains  raised  by  angels;  the  golden  doors, 
carved  like  the  bronze  gates  of  the  baptistery  in  Florence, 
turn  upon  their  hinges  of  adamant,  and  your  eyes  wander 
over  far-off"  glories  and  vistas  of  fairy  palaces.  Forms  not 
of  this  earth  glide  among  them,  the  incense  of  prosperity 
rises,  the  fire  is  kindled  on  the  altar  of  fortune,  the  scented 
air  circles  about  it.  Beings  clad  in  white  blue-bordered  tunics 
smile  divinely  as  they  float  before  your  eyes,  shapes  delicate 
and  ethereal  beyond  expression  turn  faces  of  unearthly  beauty 
upon  you.  The  Loves  hover  in  the  air,  filling  it  with  the 
flames  of  their  torches.  You  feel  that  you  are  loved ;  you 
are  glad  with  a  joy  that  you  drink  in  without  comprehending 
it  as  you  bathe  in  the  floods  of  a  torrent  of  harmony  which 
pours  out  for  each  the  nectar  of  his  choice ;  for,  as  the  music 


C&SAR  BIROTTEA&.  179 

slides  into  your  inmost  soul,  its  desires  are  realized  for  a 
moment.  Then  when  you  have  walked  for  a  while  in  heaven, 
the  enchanter  plunges  you  back,  by  some  deep  and  mysterious 
transition  of  the  bass,  into  the  morass  of  chill  reality,  only 
to  draw  you  thence  when  he  has  awakened  in  you  a  thirst  for 
his  divine  melodies,  and  your  soul  cries  out  to  hear  those 
sounds  again.  The  history  of  the  soul  at  the  most  glorious 
point  in  that  beautiful  finale  is  the  history  of  the  sensations 
which  this  festival  brought  in  abundance  for  Constance  and 
Cesar.  But  it  was  no  Beethoven,  but  a  Collinet,  who  had 
composed  upon  his  flute  the  finale  of  their  commercial 
symphony. 

The  three  Birotteaus,  tired  but  happy,  slept  that  morning 
with  the  sounds  of  the  festival  ringing  in  their  ears.  The 
building,  repairs,  furniture,  banquets,  toilets,  and  Cesarine's 
library  (for  the  money  had  been  repaid  her)  had  altogether 
raised  the  expense  of  that  entertainment,  without  Cesar  hav- 
ing a  suspicion  of  it,  to  sixty  thousand  francs.  So  much 
did  that  luckless  red  ribbon,  fastened  by  the  King  to  a  per- 
fumer's button-hole,  cost  the  wearer.  If  any  misfortune 
should  befall  Cesar  Birotteau,  this  extravagance  of  his  was 
like  to  bring  him  into  serious  trouble  at  the  police  court ;  a 
merchant  lays  himself  open  to  a  term  of  two  years'  imprison- 
ment if,  on  examination,  his  expenses  are  considered  excessive. 
It  is,  perhaps,  more  unpleasant  to  go  to  the  sixth  chamber  for 
simple  bad  management  or  for  a  foolish  trifle,  than  to  come 
before  a  court  of  assize  for  a  gigantic  fraud ;  and  in  some 
people's  eyes  it  is  better  to  be  a  knave  than  a  fool. 


n. 

CESAR  STRUGGLES   WITH   MISFORTUNE. 

A  week  after  the  ball,  that  final  flare  of  the  straw-fire  of  a 
prosperity  which  had  lasted  for  eighteen  years  and  now  was 
about  to  die  out  in  darkness,  Cesar  stood  watching  the  passers- 
by  through  his  store  window.  He  was  thinking  of  the  wide 
extent  of  his  business  affairs,  and  found  them  almost  more 
than  he  could  manage.  Hitherto  his  life  had  been  quite 
simple ;  he  manufactured  and  sold  his  goods,  or  he  bought  to 
sell  again.  But  now  there  was  the  speculation  in  building 
land,  and  his  own  share  in  the  enterprise  of  A.  Popinot  & 
Company,  beside  a  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  francs'  worth 
of  bills  to  meet.  Before  long  he  would  be  compelled  to 
discount  some  of  his  customers'  bills  (and  his  wife  would  not 
like  it),  or  there  must  be  an  unheard-of  success  on  Popinot's 
part ;  altogether,  the  poor  man  had  so  many  things  to  think 
of  that  he  felt  as  if  he  had  more  skeins  to  wind  than  he 
could  hold. 

How  would  Anselme  steer  his  course  ?  Birotteau  treated 
Popinot  much  as  a  professor  of  rhetoric  treats  a  student ;  he 
felt  little  confidence  in  his  capacity,  and  was  sorry  that  he 
could  not  be  always  on  hand  to  look  after  him.  The  admon- 
itory kick  bestowed  on  Anselme's  shins  by  way  of  a  recom- 
mendation to  hold  his  tongue  in  Vauquelin's  presence  will 
illustrate  the  fears  which  the  perfumer  felt  as  to  the  newly 
started  business.  Birotteau  was  very  careful  to  hide  his  thoughts 
from  his  wife  and  daughter  and  from  his  assistant ;  but  within 
himself  he  felt  as  a  Seine  boatman  might  feel  if  by  some  freak 
of  fortune  a  minister  should  give  him  the  command  of  a 
frigate.  Such  thoughts  as  these,  rising  like  a  fog  in  his  brain, 
(180) 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  181 

were  but  little  favorable  to  clear  thinking ;  he  stood,  there- 
fore, trying  to  see  things  distinctly  in  his  own  mind. 

Just  at  that  moment  a  figure,  for  which  he  felt  an  intense 
aversion,  appeared  in  the  street ;  he  beheld  his  second  land- 
lord, little  Molineux.  Everybody  knows  those  dreams  in 
which  events  are  so  crowded  together  that  we  pass  through  a 
whole  lifetime,  dreams  in  which  a  fantastical  being  reappears 
from  time  to  time,  always  as  the  bearer  of  bad-tidings — the 
villain  of  the  piece.  It  seemed  to  Birotteau  that  fate  had 
sent  Molineux  to  play  a  similar  part  in  his  waking  life.  That 
countenance  had  grinned  diabolically  at  him  when  the  feast 
was  at  its  height,  and  had  turned  an  evil  eye  on  the  splendor; 
and  now,  when  Cesar  saw  it  again,  he  remembered  the  impres- 
sion which  the  "little  curmudgeon"  (to use  his  own  expres- 
sion) had  given  him  but  so  much  the  more  vividly,  because 
Molineux  had  given  him  a  fresh  feeling  of  repulsion  by  sud- 
denly breaking  in  upon  his  musings. 

"Sir,"  said  the  little  old  man  in  his  vampire's  voice,  "we 
did  this  business  in  such  an  off-hand  fashion  that  you  forgot 
to  approve  the  additions  to  this  little  private  covenant  of 
ours." 

As  Birotteau  took  up  the  lease  to  repair  the  omission,  the 
architect  came  in,  bowed  to  the  perfumer,  and  hovered  about 
him  with  a  diplomatic  air. 

"You  know,  sir,  the  difficulties  at  the  outset  when  you  are 
starting  in  business,"  he  said  at  last  in  Birotteau's  ear;  "  you 
are  satisfied  with  me ;  you  would  oblige  me  very  much  by 
paying  my  honorarium  at  once." 

Birotteau,  who  had  paid  away  all  his  ready  money  and 
emptied  his  portfolio,  told  Celestin  to  draw  a  bill  for  two 
thousand  francs  at  three  months  and  a  form  of  receipt. 

"It  is  a  very  lucky  thing  for  me  that  you  undertook  to  pay 
the  quarter  which  your  next-door  neighbor  owed,"  said  Mol- 
ineux, with  malicious  cunning  in  his  smile.  "  My  porter  has 
been  around  to  tell  me  that  the  authorities  have  been  affixing 


182  CESAR  BIROTTEAU, 

seals  to  his  property,  because  Master  Cayron  has  disappeared 
from  the  scene." 

"  If  only  they  don't  come  down  on  me  for  the  five  thousand 
francs!  "  thought  Birotteau. 

"People  thought  that  he  was  doing  very  well,"  said 
Lourdois,  who  had  just  come  in  to  hand  his  statement  to 
the  perfumer. 

"  No  one  in  business  is  quite  safe  from  reverses  until  he 
retires,"  remarked  little  Molineux,  folding  up  his  document 
with  punctilious  neatness. 

The  architect  watched  the  little  old  creature  with  the 
pleasure  that  every  artist  feels  at  the  sight  of  a  living  caricature 
which  confirms  his  prejudices  against  the  bourgeoisie. 

"  When  you  hold  an  umbrella  over  your  head,  you  generally 
suppose  that  it  is  sheltered  if  it  rains,"  he  observed. 

Molineux  looked  harder  at  the  architect's  mustache  and 
"imperial"  than  at  his  face,  and  the  contempt  that  he  felt 
for  Grindot  quite  equaled  Grindot's  contempt  for  him.  He 
stayed  on  to  give  the  architect  a  parting  scratch.  By  dint  of 
living  with  his  cats  there  had  come  to  be  something  feline  in 
Molineux' s  ways  as  well  as  in  his  eyes. 

Just  at  that  moment  Ragon  and  Pillerault  came  in  together. 

"  We  have  been  talking  over  this  business  with  the  judge," 
Ragon  said  in  Cesar's  ear.  "  He  says  that  in  a  speculation 
of  this  kind  we  must  actually  complete  the  purchase  and  have 
a  receipt  from  the  vendors  if  we  are  really  to  be  severally 
propriet " 

"Oh!  are  you  in  the  affair  of  the  Madeleine?"  asked 
Lourdois.  "  People  are  talking  about  it ;  there  will  be  houses 
to  build !  " 

The  house-painter  had  come  to  ask  for  a  prompt  settlement, 
but  he  found  it  to  his  interest  not  to  press  the  perfumer. 

"  I  have  sent  in  my  statement  because  it  is  the  end  of  the 
year,"  he  said  in  a  low  voice  for  Cdsar's  benefit;  "I  do  not 
want  anything." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAV.  183 

"Well,  what  is  it,  Cesar?"  asked  Pillerault,  noticing  his 
nephew's  surprise ;  for  Cesar,  overcome  by  the  sight  of  the 
statement,  made  no  answer  to  either  Ragon  or  Lourdois. 

"Oh  !  a  trifle;  I  took  five  thousand  francs  of  bills  from  a 
neighbor,  the  umbrella  dealer,  who  is  bankrupt.  If  he  has 
given  me  bad  paper,  I  shall  be  caught  like  a  simpleton." 

"  Why,  I  told  you  so  long  ago,"  cried  Ragon  ;  "a  drown- 
ing man  will  catch  hold  of  his  father's  leg  to  save  himself, 
and  drag  him  down  with  him.  I  have  seen  so  much  of  bank- 
ruptcies !  A  man  is  not  exactly  a  rogue  to  begin  with ;  but, 
when  he  gets  into  trouble,  he  is  forced  to  become  one." 

"True,"  said  Pillerault. 

"  Ah !  if  I  ever  get  as  far  as  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  or 

have  some  influence  with  Government "  said  Birotteau, 

rising  on  tiptoe  and  sinking  back  again  on  his  heels. 

"  What  will  you  do?  "  asked  Lourdois.  "  You  are  a  wise 
man." 

Molineux,  always  interested  by  a  discussion  on  law,  stayed 
in  the  store  to  listen ;  and,  as  the  attention  paid  by  others  is 
infectious,  Pillerault  and  Ragon,  who  knew  Cesar's  opinions, 
listened  none  the  less  with  as  much  gravity  as  the  three 
strangers. 

"I  should  have  a  Tribunal  and  a  permanent  bench  of 
judges,"  said  Cesar,  "and  a  public  prosecutor  for  criminal 
cases.  After  an  examination,  made  by  a  judge  who  should 
discharge  the  functions  of  agents  by  procuration  trustees  and 
registrar,  the  trader  should  be  declared  temporarily  insolvent 
or  a  fraudulent  bankrupt.  In  the  first  case,  he  should  be 
bound  over  to  pay  his  creditors  in  full  ;  to  that  end,  he  should 
be  trustee  for  his  own  and  his  wife's  property  (for  everything 
he  had,  or  might  inherit,  would  belong  to  his  creditors)  ;  he 
should  manage  his  estate  for  their  benefit  and  under  their  in- 
spection ;  in  fact,  he  should  carry  on  the  business  for  them, 
signing  his  name,  in  every  case,  as  '  such  a  one,  in  liquidation,' 
until  everybody  was  paid  in  full.  But  if  he  were  made  a  bank- 


184  C&SAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

rupt,  he  should  be  condemned  to  stand  in  the  pillory  in  the 
Exchange  for  a  couple  of  hours,  as  they  used  to  do,  with  a 
green  cap  on  his  head.  His  own  property  and  his  wife's,  and 
his  interest  in  any  other  estate,  should  be  forfeit  to  his 
creditors,  and  he  should  be  banished  the  kingdom." 

"Business  would  be  a  little  safer,"  said  Lourdois ;  "  people 
would  think  twice  before  going  into  a  speculation." 

"  The  law  as  it  stands  is  never  carried  out,"  cried  Cesar, 
lashing  himself  up;  "more  than  fifty  merchants  out  of  a  hun- 
dred could  only  pay  seventy-five  per  cent.,  or  they  sell  goods 
at  twenty-five  per  cent,  below  invoice  price  and  spoil  trade  in 
that  way." 

"  Monsieur  Birotteau  is  in  the  right,"  said  Molineux;  "  the 
law  allows  far  too  much  latitude.  The  entire  estate  should 
be  made  over  to  the  creditors,  or  the  man  should  be  dis- 
graced." 

"  Bother  take  it,"  said  Cesar,  "  at  the  rate  at  which  things 
are  going,  a  merchant  will  become  a  licensed  robber.  By 
signing  his  name  he  can  dip  in  any  one's  purse." 

"You  are  severe,  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said  Lourdois. 

"  He  is  right,"  said  old  Ragon. 

"Every  man  who  fails  is  a  suspicious  character,"  C6sar 
went  on,  exasperated  by  the  little  loss  which  rang  in  his  ears ; 
it  was  like  the  huntsman's  first  distant  halloo  to  a  stag. 

As  he  spoke,  Chevet's  steward  brought  his  invoice,  a  pastry- 
cook's boy  from  Felix  and  the  Cafe  Foy  arrived,  together 
with  the  clarionet-player  of  Collinet's  band,  each  with  an 
account. 

"The  'Rabelais'  quarter-of-an-hour,'  "  smiled  Ragon. 

"  My  word,  that  was  a  splendid  fete  of  yours,"  said  Lourdois. 

"  I  am  busy,"  Cesar  said,  and  the  messengers  departed, 
leaving  their  invoices. 

"Monsieur  Grindot,"  said  Lourdois,  who  noticed  that  the 
architect  was  folding  up  a  bill  which  bore  Cesar's  signature, 
"you  will  check  my  account  and  see  that  it  is  all  in  order; 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  185 

you  need  do  nothing  more  than  run  through  it,  all  the  prices 
have  been  agreed  to  on  Monsieur  Birotteau's  behalf." 

Pillerault  looked  at  Lourdois  and  Grindot. 

"  If  architect  and  contractor  settle  the  prices  between  them, 
you  are  being  robbed,"  he  said  in  his  nephew's  ear. 

Grindot  went  out.  Molineux  followed  and  came  up  to  him 
with  a  mysterious  expression. 

"  Sir,"  he  remarked,  "  you  heard  what  I  said,  but  you  did 
not  take  my  meaning ;  I  wish  you  an  umbrella  when  it  comes 
on  to  rain." 

Fear  seized  on  Grindot.  A  man  clings  all  the  more  tightly 
to  gain  which  is  not  lawfully  his  ;  such  is  human  nature.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  too,  this  had  been  a  labor  of  love  for  the 
artist ;  he  had  given  all  his  time  and  his  utmost  skill  to  the 
alterations  of  the  rooms ;  he  had  done  five  times  as  much  as 
he  had  been  paid  for,  and  had  fallen  a  victim  to  his  own  self- 
love.  The  contractors  had  had  little  difficulty  in  tempting 
him.  And,  beside  the  irresistible  argument,  there  was  a 
menace,  understood  though  not  expressed,  of  doing  him  an 
injury  by  slandering  him,  and  there  was  a  yet  more  cogent 
reason  for  yielding — the  remark  that  Lourdois  made  as  to  the 
building  land  near  the  Madeleine.  Clearly,  Birotteau  did 
not  mean  to  put  up  a  single  house ;  he  was  only  speculating  in 
land. 

Architects  and  contractors  are  in  somewhat  the  same  rela- 
tive positions  as  actors  and  dramatists  ;  they  are  dependent 
on  each  other.  Grindot,  to  whom  Birotteau  left  the  settle- 
ment of  the  charges,  was  for  the  handicraftsman  as  against 
the  citizen-householder.  So  the  end  of  it  was  that  three  large 
contractors — Lourdois,  Chaffaroux,  and  Thorien  the  carpenter 
— declared  him  to  be  "one  of  those  good  fellows  for  whom 
it  is  a  pleasure  to  work."  Grindot  foresaw  that  the  accounts 
on  which  he  was  to  have  his  share  would  be  paid,  like  his  own 
fee,  by  bills ;  and  this  little  old  man  had  given  him  doubts  as 
to  whether  those  bills  would  be  met.  Grindot  was  prepared 


186  CESAR   B1ROTTEAU. 

to  show  no  mercy ;  after  the  manner  of  artists,  the  most  ruth- 
less enemies  of  the  bourgeois. 

By  the  end  of  December,  Cesar  had  invoices  for  sixty  thou- 
sand francs.  Felix,  the  Cafe  Foy,  Tanrade,  and  others,  to 
whom  small  amounts  were  owing  which  must  be  paid  in  cash, 
had  sent  three  times  for  the  money.  In  business  these  small 
trifles  do  more  harm  than  a  heavy  loss ;  they  set  rumors  in 
circulation.  A  loss  which  every  one  knows  is  a  definite  thing, 
but  panic  knows  no  limits.  Birotteau's  safe  was  empty. 

Then  fear  seized  on  the  perfumer.  Such  a  thing  had  never 
happened  before  in  his  business  career.  Like  all  people  who 
have  almost  forgotten  their  struggles  with  poverty,  and  have 
little  strength  of  character,  this  incident — a  daily  occurrence 
in  the  lives  of  most  petty  storekeepers  in  Paris — troubled 
Cesar's  brain. 

He  told  Celestin  to  send  in  invoices  to  his  own  customers ; 
such  an  unheard-of  order  had  to  be  repeated  twice  before  the 
astonished  first  assistant  understood  it.  The  "clients" — 
the  grand  name  that  storekeepers  used  to  apply  to  their  cus- 
tomers, and  retained  by  C6sar  in  speaking  of  them,  in  spite 
of  his  wife,  who  had  yielded  at  last  with  a  "  Call  them  what 
you  like,  so  long  as  they  pay  us" — the  "clients"  were 
wealthy  people,  who  paid  when  they  pleased  ;  in  Cesar's  busi- 
ness there  were  no  bad  debts,  though  the  outstanding  accounts 
often  amounted  to  fifty  or  sixty  thousand  francs.  The  second 
assistant  took  the  invoice-book  and  began  to  copy  out  the 
largest  amounts.  Cesar  stood  in  fear  of  his  wife.  He  did 
not  wish  her  to  see  his  prostration  beneath  the  simoom  of  mis- 
fortune, so  he  determined  to  go  out. 

"Good-day,  sir,"  said  Grindot,  coming  in  with  the  careless 
air  that  artists  assume  when  they  talk  of  business  matters,  to 
which  they  say  they  are  entirely  unaccustomed.  "I  cannot 
obtain  ready  money  of  any  sort  or  description  for  your  paper, 
so  I  am  compelled  to  ask  you  to  give  me  cash  instead.  It  is 
a  most  unfortunate  thing  for  me  that  I  must  take  this  step; 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  187 

but  I  have  not  been  to  the  money-lenders  about  it ;  I  should 
not  like  to  hawk  your  name  about ;  I  know  enough  of  busi- 
ness to  know  that  it  would  be  casting  a  slur  on  it ;  so  it  is 
to  your  own  interest  to 

"Speak  lower,  sir,  if  you  please,"  said  Birotteau  in  bewil- 
derment. "  I  am  very  much  surprised  at  this." 

Lourdois  came  in. 

"Here,  Lourdois,"  said  Birotteau  with  a  smile,  "do  you 

know  about  this? "  he  stopped  short.  With  the  good 

faith  of  a  merchant  who  feels  secure,  the  poor  man  had  been 
about  to  ask  Lourdois  to  take  Grindot's  bill,  by  way  of 
laughing  at  the  architect ;  but  he  saw  a  cloud  on  Lourdois' 
brow,  and  trembled  at  his  own  imprudence.  The  harmless 
joke  was  the  death-knell  of  a  credit  not  above  suspicion.  In 
such  a  case  a  rich  merchant  takes  back  his  bill ;  he  does  not 
offer  it.  Birotteau  felt  dizzy ;  it  was  as  if  a  stroke  of  a  pick- 
axe had  laid  open  the  pit  which  yawned  at  his  feet. 

"  My  dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said  Lourdois,  retiring 
with  him  to  the  back  of  the  store,  "  my  account  has  been 
checked  and  passed ;  I  must  ask  you  to  have  the  money  ready 
for  me  by  to-morrow.  My  daughter  is  going  to  be  married 
to  young  Crottat ;  he  wants  money,  and  notaries  will  not  wait 
and  bargain  ;  beside,  no  one  has  ever  seen  my  name  on  a 
bill." 

"You  can  send  round  the  day  after  to-morrow,"  said  Birot- 
teau stiffly  (he  counted  on  the  payment  of  the  invoices). 
"And  you  also,  sir,"  he  spoke  to  Grindot. 

"  Why  can  I  not  have  it  at  once  ?  "  asked  the  architect. 

"  I  have  my  men's  wages  to  pay  in  the  Faubourg,"  said 
Cesar,  who  had  never  told  a  lie. 

He  took  up  his  hat  to  go  with  them  ;  but  the  bricklayer 
came  in  with  Thorien  and  Chaffaroux,  and  stopped  him  just 
as  he  shut  the  door. 

"  We  really  want  the  money,  sir,"  said  Chaffaroux. 

"  Eh  !     I  haven't  the  wealth  of  the  Indies,"  cried  Cesar, 


188  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

out  of  patience  ;  and  he  quickly  put  a  hundred  paces  between 
himself  and  the  three  visitors.  "  There  is  something  under- 
neath all  this.  Confound  the  ball !  Everybody  takes  you 
for  a  millionaire.  Still,  there  was  something  very  strange 
about  Lourdois,"  he  thought;  "there  is  some  snake  in  the 
hedge." 

He  went  along  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6  without  thinking 
where  he  was  going,  feeling  at  a  very  low  ebb,  when  at  a 
corner  of  the  street  he  ran  up  against  Alexandre  Crottat,  like 
a  battering-ram,  or  as  one  mathematician  absorbed  in  the 
working  of  a  problem  might  collide  with  another. 

"Ah  !  sir,"  exclaimed  the  future  notary,  "  one  word  with 
you  !  Did  Roguin  pay  over  your  four  hundred  thousand 
francs  to  Monsieur  Claparon  ? ' ' 

"You  were  there  when  the  thing  was  done.  Claparon 
gave  me  no  receipt  of  any  kind ;  my  bills  were  to  be  nego- 
tiated. Roguin  ought  to  have  paid  them  to  him my  two 

hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  in  coin.  He  was  told  that 
the  money  was  to  be  paid  down  and  the  transaction  com- 
pleted. Popinot  of  the  Tribunal  says The  vendor's 

receipt  !  But what  makes  you  ask  the  question  ?  " 

"What  makes  me  ask  you  such  a  question?  To  know 
whether  your  two  hundred  thousand  francs  are  in  Claparon's 
hands  or  Roguin 's.  Roguin  is  such  an  old  acquaintance  of 
yours  that  he  might  have  scrupled  to  take  your  money,  and 
handed  it  over  to  Claparon  ;  if  so,  you  will  have  had  a  narrow 
escape  !  But  how  stupid  I  am  !  He  has  made  off  with  them, 
for  he  has  Claparon's  money ;  luckily,  Claparon  had  only  paid 
a  hundred  thousand  francs.  Roguin  has  absconded  ;  I  myself 
paid  him  a  hundred  thousand  francs  for  his  practice  without 
taking  a  receipt ;  I  gave  it  him  as  I  might  give  my  purse  to 
you  to  keep  for  me.  Your  vendors  have  not  been  paid  a 
stiver ;  they  have  just  been  round  to  see  me.  The  money 
you  raised  on  your  land  has  no  existence  for  you,  nor  for  the 
man  of  whom  you  borrowed  it ;  Roguin  had  swallowed  it  like 


CESAR  B1ROTTEAU.  189 

your  hundred  thousand  francs  ;  which  er — he  has  not  had 
this  long  while.  And  he  has  taken  your  last  payment  of  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  with  him  too  ;  I  remember  going  to 
the  bank  for  the  money." 

The  pupils  of  Cesar's  eyes  dilated  so  widely  that  he  could 
see  nothing  but  red  flames  before  him. 

"Your  draft  on  the  bank  for  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine  paid  for  the  practice,  and 
a  hundred  thousand  francs  belonging  to  M.  Claparon — three 
hundred  thousand  francs  gone  like  smoke,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  defalcations  that  have  yet  to  be  found  out,"  the  young 
notary  went  on.  "  They  feared  for  Madame  Roguin's  life  ; 
Monsieur  du  Tillet  spent  the  night  beside  her.  Du  Tillet 
himself  has  had  a  narrow  escape  !  Roguin  has  been  pestering 
him  this  month  past  to  draw  him  into  the  Madeleine  specula- 
tion, but,  luckily,  all  his  capital  was  locked  up  in  some  pro- 
ject of  the  Nucingens.  Roguin  wrote  his  wife  a  frightful 
letter.  I  have  just  seen  it.  For  five  years  he  has  been  gam- 
bling with  his  clients'  money,  and  why?  To  spend  it  on  a 
mistress — the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman  ;  he  left  her  a  fortnight 
before  he  made  this  stroke.  She  had  squandered  till  she  had 
not  a  farthing ;  her  furniture  was  sold  ;  she  had  put  her  name 
on  bills  of  exchange.  Then  she  hid  from  her  creditors  in  a 
house  in  the  Palais-Royal,  and  was  murdered  there  last  even- 
ing by  an  officer  in  the  army.  Heaven  soon  dealt  the  punish- 
ment to  her  who,  beyond  a  doubt,  had  run  through  Roguin's 
fortune.  There  are  women  to  whom  nothing  is  sacred ;  think 
of  squandering  away  a  notary's  practice  ! 

"  Madame  Roguin  will  having  nothing  except  what  has 
been  secured  to  her  by  her  legal  mortgage,  and  all  the 
scoundrel's  property  has  been  mortgaged  beyond  its  value. 
The  practice  is  to  be  sold  for  three  hundred  thousand  francs ! 
And  I,  who  thought  I  was  doing  a  good  stroke  of  business, 
must  begin  by  paying  an  extra  hundred  thousand  francs  for 
my  practice ;  I  hold  no  receipt ;  and  there  are  defalcations 


190  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

which  will  eat  up  the  value  of  the  practice  and  the  deposit  of 
caution-money.  The  creditors  will  think  that  I  am  in  it  if  I 
say  anything  about  my  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  you 
have  to  be  very  careful  of  your  reputation  when  you  are  be- 
ginning for  yourself.  You  will  hardly  get  thirty  per  cent. 
Such  a  brew  to  drink  of  at  my  age !  That  a  man  of  fifty- 
nine  should  take  up  with  a  woman.  The  old  rogue !  Three 
weeks  ago  he  told  me  not  to  marry  Cesarine,  and  said  that 
before  long  you  would  not  have  bread  to  eat,  the  monster  !  " 

Alexandre  might  have  talked  on  for  a  long  while  ;  Birotteau 
stood  like  a  man  turned  to  stone.  Each  sentence  fell  like  a 
stunning  blow.  He  heard  nothing  in  the  sounds  but  his 
death-knell ;  just  as  when  Alexandre  first  began  to  speak,  he 
had  seemed  to  see  his  own  house  in  flames.  He  looked  so 
white  and  stood  so  motionless  that  Alexandre  Crottat,  who 
had  taken  the  worthy  perfumer  for  a  clear-headed,  capable 
man  of  business,  was  frightened  at  last.  Roguin's  successor 
did  not  know  that  this  stroke  had  swept  away  Cesar's  whole 
fortune.  A  swift  thought  of  suicide  flashed  through  the  brain 
of  the  merchant,  so  profoundly  religious  by  nature.  In  such 
a  case  suicide  is  a  way  of  escape  from  a  thousand  deaths,  and 
it  seems  logical  to  accept  but  one.  Alexandre  Crottat  lent 
his  arm  and  tried  to  walk  with  him,  but  it  was  impossible — 
Cesar  tottered  as  if  he  had  been  drunk. 

"Why,  what  is  the  matter  with  you?"  asked  Crottat. 
"  My  good  Monsieur  Cesar,  pluck  up  heart  a  little  !  It  takes 
more  than  this  to  kill  a  man  !  Beside  you  will  recover  forty 
thousand  francs ;  the  man  who  lent  you  the  money  had  not 
the  money  to  lend,  and  did  not  pay  it  over  to  you;  you 
might  plead  that  the  contract  was  void." 

"  My  ball.  My  cross.  Two  hundred  thousand  francs' 
worth  of  my  paper  on  the  market,  and  not  anything  in  the 

safe  to The  Ragons,  Pillerault And  my  wife,  who 

saw  it  all!  " 

A  shower  of  confused  words,  which  called  up  ideas  that 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  191 

overwhelmed  him  and  caused  unspeakable  pangs,  fell  like  hail 
laying  waste  the  flower-beds  of  the  Queen  of  Roses. 

"If  only  my  head  were  cut  of,"  Birotteau  cried  at  last; 
"  it  is  so  heavy  that  it  weighs  me  down,  and  it  is  good  for 
nothing  in  this " 

"  Poor  old  Birotteau  !  "  said  Alexandre ;  "  then  are  you  in 
difficulties?" 

"Difficulties!  " 

"  Very  well;  keep  up  your  heart  and  struggle  with  them." 

"Struggle  !  "  echoed  the  perfumer. 

"  Du  Tillet  used  to  be  your  assistant;  he  has  a  level  head, 
he  will  help  you." 

"Du  Tillet?" 

"Come  along!" 

"Good  heavens!  I  don't  like  to  go  home  like  this," 
cried  Birotteau.  "You  that  are  my  friend,  if  friends  there 
are,  you  who  have  dined  with  me,  you  in  whom  I  have  taken 
an  interest,  call  a  cab  for  me,  for  my  wife's  sake ;  and  come 
with  me,  Xandrot " 

With  no  little  difficulty  Crottat  put  the  inert  mechanism, 
called  Cesar,  into  a  cab. 

"Xandrot,"  he  said,  in  a  voice  broken  with  tears,  for  the 
tears  had  begun  to  fall  and  the  iron  band  about  his  head 
seemed  to  be  loosened  a  little,  "let  us  call  at  the  store. 
Speak  to  Celestin  for  me.  My  friend,  tell  him  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  life  and  death  for  me  and  for  my  wife.  And  let 
no  one  prattle  about  Roguin's  disappearance  on  any  pretext 
whatever.  Ask  Cesarine  to  come  down,  and  beg  her  to  allow 
no  one  to  say  anything  about  it  to  her  mother.  You  must 
beware  of  your  best  friends,  Pillerault,  the  Ragons,  every- 
body  " 

The  change  in  Birotteau's  voice  made  a  deep  impression  on 
Crottat,  who  understood  the  importance  of  the  request.  On 
their  way  to  the  magistrate  they  stopped  at  the  house  in  the 
Rue  Saint-Honore.  Celestin  and  Cesarine  were  horrified  to 


192  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

see  Birotteau  lying  back  in  white  and  speechless  hebetude, 
as  it  were,  in  the  cab- 

"Keep  the  affair  a  secret  for  me,"  said  the  perfumer. 

"Ah  !  "  said  Xandrot  to  himself,  "he  is  coming  round;  I 
thought  it  was  all  over  with  him." 

The  conference  between  Alexandre  and  the  magistrate 
lasted  long.  The  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Notaries  was 
sent  for ;  C6sar  was  taken  hither  and  thither  like  a  parcel ; 
he  did  not  stir,  he  did  not  utter  a  word.  Toward  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening  Alexandre  Crottat  took  the  perfumer 
home  again,  and  the  thought  of  appearing  before  his  wife  had 
a  bracing  effect  upon  Cesar.  The  young  notary  had  the 
charity  to  precede  him,  to  tell  Mme.  Birotteau  that  her  hus- 
band had  had  a  sort  of  fit. 

"His  ideas  are  confused,"  he  said,  making  a  gesture  to  de- 
scribe a  bewildered  state  of  the  brain  ;  "  perhaps  he  should 
be  bled  or  leeches  ought  to  be  put  on  him." 

"I  knew  how  it  would  be,"  said  Constance — nothing  was 
further  from  her  thoughts  than  the  actual  disaster — "he  did 
not  take  his  medicine  as  usual  at  the  beginning  of  winter, 
and  for  these  two  months  he  has  been  working  like  a  galley 
slave,  as  if  he  had  to  earn  his  daily  bread." 

So  Cesar's  wife  and  daughter  begged  him  to  go  to  bed,  and 
Dr.  Haudry,  Birotteau's  doctor,  was  sent  for.  Old  Haudry 
was  a  doctor  of  the  school  of  Moliere  ;  he  had  a  large  prac- 
tice, and  adhered  to  old-fashioned  methods  and  out-of-date 
formulae ;  consulting-physician  though  he  was,  he  drugged  his 
patients  like  any  quack  doctor.  He  came,  made  his  diag- 
nosis, and  ordered  the  immediate  application'of  a  sinapism  to 
the  soles  of  Cesar's  feet ;  he  detected  symptoms  of  cerebral 
congestion. 

"  What  can  have  brought  it  on  ?  "  asked  Constance. 

"The  damp  weather,"  said  the  doctor.  Cesarine  had 
given  him  a  hint. 

A  doctor  is  often  obliged  professionally  to  talk  nonsense 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  193 

with  a  learned  air,  to  save  the  honor  or  the  life  of  persons  in 
health  who  stand  about  the  patient's  bed.  The  old  physician 
had  seen  so  much  that  half  a  word  sufficed  for  him.  Ce- 
sarine  went  out  with  the  doctor  on  to  the  stairs  to  ask  about 
the  treatment. 

"Rest  and  quiet;  then  when  there  is  less  pressure  on  the 
head,  we  will  venture  on  tonics." 

For  two  days  Mme.  Cesar  sat  by  her  husband's  bedside. 
Often  she  thought  that  he  was  delirious.  As  he  lay  in  his 
wife's  pretty  blue-chamber  he  said  many  things,  which  were 
enigmas  for  Constance,  at  the  sight  of  the  hangings,  the 
furniture,  and  the  costly  magnificence  of  the  room. 

"  He  is  light-headed,"  she  said  to  Cesar ine,  when  Cesar 
sat  upright  in  bed  and  began  solemnly  to  repeat  scraps  of  the 
Code.  "If  the  personal  or  household  expenses  are  considered 
excessive Take  away  those  curtains  !  "  he  cried. 

After  three  dreadful  days  of  anxiety  for  Cesar's  reason,  the 
Tourangeau's  strong  peasant  constitution  triumphed,  the 
pressure  on  the  brain- ceased.  M.  Haudry  ordered  cordials 
and  a  strengthening  diet,  and,  after  a  cup  of  coffee  seasonably 
administered,  Cesar  was  on  his  feet  again.  Constance,  worn 
out,  took  her  husband's  place. 

"Poor  thing!"  said  Cesar,  when  he  saw  her  sleeping. 

"  Come,  papa,  take  courage !  You  have  so  much  talent, 
that  you  will  triumph  over  this.  Never  mind.  Monsieur 
Anselme  will  help  you,"  and  Cesarine  murmured  the  sweet, 
vague  words,  made  still  sweeter  by  tenderness,  which  put 
courage  into  the  most  sorely  defeated,  as  a  mother's  croon- 
ing songs  soothe  the  pain  of  a  teething  infant. 

"Yes,  child,  I  will  struggle.  But  not  a  word  of  this  to 
any  one  whatever;  not  to  Popinot,  who  loves  us,  nor  to 
your  uncle.  In  the  first  place,  I  will  write  to  my  brother ; 
he  is  a  canon,  I  believe,  a  priest  attached  to  a  cathedral. 
He  spends  nothing,  so  he  must  have  saved  something. 
Five  thousand  francs  put  by  every  year  for  twenty  years — 
13 


194  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

he  ought  to  have  a  hundred  thousand  francs.  Priests  have 
credit  in  country  places." 

Cesarine,  in  her  hurry  to  set  a  little  table  and  the  neces- 
saries for  writing  a  letter  before  her  father,  brought  the 
remainder  of  the  rose- colored  cards  for  the  ball. 

"Burn  them  all!"  cried  the  merchant.  "The  devil 
alone  could  have  put  the  notion  of  that  ball  into  my  head. 
If  I  fail,  it  will  look  as  if  I  were  a  rogue.  Come,  let  us 
go  straight  to  the  point." 

Cesar1  s  Letter  to  Francois  Birotteau. 

"My  DEAR  BROTHER: — My  business  is  passing  through  a 
crisis  so  difficult  that  I  implore  you  to  send  me  all  the 
money  at  your  disposal,  even  if  you  are  obliged  to  borrow. 
Yours  truly,  CESAR. 

"Your  niece,  Cesarine,  who  is  with  me  as  I  write  this 
letter,  while  my  poor  wife  is  asleep,  desires  to  be  remembered 
to  you,  and  sends  her  love." 

This  postscript  was  added  at  Cesarine's  instance.  She  gave 
the  letter  to  Raguet. 

"Father,"  said  she  when  she  came  up  again,  "here  is 
Monsieur  Lebas,  who  wants  to  speak  to  you." 

"  M.  Lebas!  "  cried  Cesar,  starting  as  though  misfortune 
had  made  a  criminal  of  him,  "  a  judge  !  " 

"  Dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said  the  stout  merchant-draper 
as  he  came  in,  "  I  take  too  deep  an  interest  in  you — knowing 
each  other  so  long  as  we  have,  and  being  elected  judges  to- 
gether, as  we  were,  for  the  first  time — not  to  let  you  know 
that  one  Bidault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  has  bills  of  yours  made 
payable  to  his  order,  without  guarantee,  by  the  firm  of  Cla- 
paron.  Those  two  words  are  not  merely  an  insult;  they  give 
a  fatal  shake  to  your  credit." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  195 

"  Monsieur  Claparon  would  like  to  speak  with  you,"  said 
Cdlestin,  putting  in  his  head  ;  "  am  I  to  show  him  up  ?  " 

"  We  shall  soon  hear  the  why  and  wherefore  of  this  af- 
front," remarked  Lebas. 

"This  is  Monsieur  Lebas,  sir,"  said  Cesar,  as  Claparon 
came  in ;  "  he  is  a  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  and 
my  friend " 

"Oh!  the  gentleman  is  Monsieur  Lebas,  is  he?"  said 
Claparon,  interrupting  Cesar;  "delighted  to  make  his  ac- 
quaintance ;  Monsieur  Lebas  of  the  Tribunal,  there  are  so 
many  Lebas,*  to  say  nothing  of  the  hauts  (high)  and  the  bas 
(low) " 

"  He  has  seen  the  bills  which  I  gave  to  you,  and  which 
(so  you  told  me)  should  not  be  negotiated,"  Birotteau 
went  on,  interrupting  the  rattle  in  his  turn;  "he  has  seen 
them,  too,  with  the  words  '  without  guarantee  '  written  upon 
them." 

"  Well,"  said  Claparon,  "and  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  will 
not  be  negotiated ;  they  are  in  the  hands  of  a  man  with 
whom  I  do  a  great  deal  of  business — old  Bidault.  That  is 
why  I  put  '  without  guarantee '  on  them.  If  the  bills  had 
been  meant  to  be  put  in  circulation,  you  would  have  made 
them  to  his  order  in  the  first  place.  Monsieur  Lebas,  as  a  judge, 
will  understand  my  position.  What  do  the  bills  represent? 
The  price  of  some  landed  property.  To  be  paid  by  whom  ? 
By  Birotteau.  Why  would  you  have  me  guarantee  Birotteau 
by  my  signature  ?  We  must,  each  of  us,  pay  our  share  of  the 
aforesaid  price.  Now  isn't  it  enough  to  be  jointly  and  sev- 
erally responsible  to  the  vendors  ?  I  have  made  an  inflexible 
rule  in  business :  I  no  more  give  my  signature  for  nothing 
than  I  give  a  receipt  for  money  that  is  still  to  be  paid.  I  as- 
sume the  worst.  Who  signs,  pays.  I  don't  want  to  be  laid 
open  to  pay  three  times  over." 

"Three  times,"  said  Cesar. 

*  Le  bas  :  the  low. 


196  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  Claparon.  "  I  have  already  guaranteed 
Birotteau  to  the  vendors ;  why  should  I  guarantee  him  again 
to  the  bill-discounter  ?  Our  case  is  a  hard  one  ;  Roguin  goes 
off  with  a  hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine ;  so,  even  now, 
my  half  of  the  land  is  costing  me  five  hundred  thousand  in- 
stead of  four.  Roguin  has  taken  two  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  francs  belonging  to  Birotteau.  What  would  you  do 
in  my  place,  Monsieur  Lebas?  Put  yourself  in  my  shoes.  I 
have  not  the  honor  of  being  known  to  you,  any  more  than  I 
know  Monsieur  Birotteau.  Do  you  take  me  ?  We  go  halves 
in  a  business  speculation.  You  pay  down  all  your  share  of 
the  money  in  cash  ;  and,  as  for  me,  I  give  bills  for  my  share. 
I  offer  you  the  bills,  and  out  of  excessive  benevolence  you  take 
them  and  give  money  for  them.  You  learn  that  Claparon, 
the  rich  banker,  looked  up  to  by  every  one — I  accept  all  the 
virtues  in  the  world — that  the  virtuous  Claparon  is  in  diffi- 
culties for  a  matter  of  six  millions ;  would  you  select  that 
moment  to  give  your  name  as  a  guarantee  for  mine  ?  You 
would  be  mad !  Well  now,  Monsieur  Lebas,  Birotteau  is  in 
the  position  in  which  I  imagined  Claparon  to  be.  Don't  you 
see  that  in  that  case,  being  jointly  and  severally  responsible, 
I  may  be  made  to  pay  the  purchasers ;  that  I  can  be  called 
upon  to  pay  a  second  time  for  Birotteau's  share  to  the  extent 
of  his  bills;  that  is,  if  I  back  them,  without  having " 

"  Pay  whom?  "  interrupted  the  perfumer. 

"Without  having  his  half  of  the  land,"  pursued  Claparon, 
heedless  of  the  interruption,  "  for  I  should  have  no  hold  on 
him  ;  so  I  should  have  to  buy  it  over  again.  So — I  might  pay 
three  times  over." 

"  Repay  whom?"  insisted  Birotteau, 

"  Why,  the  holder  of  the  bills ;  if  I  endorsed  them,  and  you 
came  to  grief." 

"  I  shall  not  fail,  sir,"  said  Birotteau. 

"All  right,"  said  Claparon.  "  You  have  been  a  judge,  you 
are  a  clever  man  of  business,  you  know  that  we  ought  to  pro- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  197 

vide  for  all  contingencies,  so  do  not  be  astonished  if  I  act  in 
a  business-like  way." 

"Monsieur  Claparon  is  right,"  said  Joseph  Lebas. 

"  I  am  right,"  continued  Claparon,  "  right  from  a  business 
point  of  view.  But  this  is  a  question  of  landed  property. 
Now,  what  ought  I  myself  to  receive  ?  Money,  for  the  ven- 
dors must  be  paid  in  coin.  Let  us  set  aside  the  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  francs,  which  Monsieur  Birotteau  will  find, 
I  am  sure,"  said  Claparon,  looking  at  Lebas.  "  I  came  to 
ask  you  for  the  trifling  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  francs," 
he  added,  looking  at  Birotteau. 

"  Twenty-five  thousand  francs  !  "  cried  C6sar,  and  it  seemed 
to  him  that  the  blood  turned  to  ice  in  his  veins.  "But,  sir, 
what  for?" 

"Eh  !  my  dear  sir,  we  are  bound  to  sign,  seal,  and  deliver 
the  deeds  in  the  presence  of  a  notary.  Now,  as  to  paying  for 
the  land,  we  may  arrange  that  among  ourselves,  but  when  the 
Treasury  comes  in — your  humble  servant  !  The  Treasury  does 
not  amuse  itself  with  idle  words ;  it  allows  you  credit  from 
your  hand  to  your  pocket,  and  we  shall  have  to  come  down 
with  the  money — forty-four  thousand  francs  this  week  in  law 
expenses.  I  was  far  from  expecting  reproaches  when  I  came 
here ;  for,  thinking  that  you  might  find  it  inconvenient  to  pay 
twenty-five  thousand  francs,  I  was  going  to  tell  you  that  by 
the  merest  chance  I  had  saved  for  you " 

"What?"  asked  Birotteau,  giving  in  that  word  that  cry 
of  distress  which  no  man  can  mistake. 

"A  trifle!  Twenty-five  thousand  francs  in  bills  given  to 
you  by  one  and  another,  which  Roguin  gave  me  to  discount. 
I  have  credited  you  with  the  amount  as  against  the  registration 
and  other  expenses  ;  I  will  send  you  the  account ;  there  is  a 
little  matter  to  deduct  for  discounting  them,  and  six  or  seven 
thousand  francs  will  still  be  owing  to  me." 

"This  all  seems  to  me  to  be  perfectly  fair,"  said  Lebas. 
*•'  In  the  place  of  this  gentleman,  who  appears  to  me  to  un- 


198  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

derstand  business  very  well,  I  should  act  the  same  toward  a 
stranger." 

"This  will  not  be  the  death  of  Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said 
Claparon ;  "it  takes  more  than  one  blow  to  kill  an  old  wolf; 
I  have  seen  wolves  with  bullets  in  their  heads  running  about 
like — Lord,  yes,  like  wolves." 

"  Who  could  have  foreseen  such  rascality  on  Roguin's 
part  ?  "  asked  Lebas,  as  much  alarmed  by  Cesar's  dumbness 
as  by  so  vast  a  speculation  outside  the  perfumery  trade. 

"A  little  more,  and  I  should  have  given  this  gentleman  a 
receipt  for  four  hundred  thousand  francs,"  said  Claparon, 
"  and  I  was  in  a  stew.  I  had  paid  over  a  hundred  thousand 
francs  to  Roguin  the  night  before.  Our  mutual  confidence 
saved  me.  It  would  have  seemed  to  us  all  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence whether  the  money  should  be  lying  at  his  office  or  in  my 
possession  till  the  day  when  the  contracts  were  completed." 

"  It  would  have  been  much  better  if  each  had  deposited  his 
money  with  the  Bank  of  France  till  the  time  came  for  paying 
it  over,"  said  Lebas. 

"  Roguin  was  as  good  as  the  bank,  I  thought,"  said  Cesar. 
"  But  he,  too,  is  in  this  business,"  he  added,  looking  at  Cla- 
paron. 

"  Yes,  for  a  fourth,  and  in  name  only,"  answered  Claparon. 
"After  the  imbecility  of  allowing  him  to  go  off  with  my 
money,  there  is  but  one  thing  more  out-and-out  idiotic — and 
that  would  be  to  make  him  a  present  of  some  more.  If  he 
sends  me  back  my  hundred  thousand  francs,  and  two  hundred 
thousand  more  on  his  own  account,  then  we  shall  see  !  But 
he  will  take  good  care  not  to  put  the  money  into  an  affair 
that  must  simmer  for  four  years  before  you  have  a  spoonful  of 
soup.  If  he  has  only  gone  off  with  three  hundred  thousand 
francs,  as  they  say,  he  will  want  quite  fifty  thousand  livres  a 
year  to  live  decently  abroad." 
"  The  bandit !  " 
"  Eh  !  goodness  !  An  infatuation  for  a  woman  brought 


CESAR  BTROTTEAU.  199 

Roguin  to  that  pass,"  said  Claparon.  "What  man  at  his 
age  can  answer  for  it  that  he  will  not  be  mastered  and  carried 
away  by  a  last  fancy  ?  Not  one  of  us,  sober  as  we  are,  can 
tell  where  it  will  end.  A  last  love  is  the  most  violent.  Look 
at  Cardot,  and  Camusot,  and  Matifat — every  one  of  them  has 
a  mistress  !  And  if  all  of  us  are  gulled,  is  it  not  our  own 
fault  ?  How  was  it  that  we  did  not  suspect  a  notary  who 
speculated  on  his  own  account?  Any  notary,  any  bill-broker, 
or  stock-broker  who  does  business  on  his  own  account,  is  not 
to  be  trusted.  Failure  for  them  is  fraudulent  bankruptcy; 
they  are  sent  up  to  the  court  of  assize  for  trial ;  so,  of  course, 
they  prefer  a  foreign  court.  I  shall  not  make  that  blunder 
again.  Well,  well,  we  are  all  too  weak  to  pass  judgment  by 
default  on  a  man  with  whom  we  have  dined,  who  has  given 
grand  balls,  a  man  in  society,  in  fact !  Nobody  complains ; 
it  is  wrong." 

"Very  wrong,"  said  Birotteau.  "The  provisions  of  the 
law  with  regard  to  liquidations  and  insolvency  ought  to  be 
revised  throughout." 

"If  you  should  happen  to  need  me,"  said  Lebas,  turning 
himself  to  and  addressing  Birotteau,  "  I  am  quite  at  your 
service." 

"Monsieur  Birotteau  has  need  of  no  one,"  said  the  inde- 
fatigable prattler  (du  Tillet  had  opened  the  sluices  after  pour- 
ing in  the  water,  and  Claparon  was  repeating  a  lesson  which 
du  Tillet  had  very  skillfully  taught  him).  "His  position  is 
clear.  Roguin's  estate  will  pay  a  dividend  of  fifty  per  cent., 
from  what  young  Crottat  tells  me.  Beside  the  dividend, 
Monsieur  Cesar  will  come  by  the  forty  thousand  francs  which 
the  lender  on  the  mortgage  did  not  pay  over ;  he  can  raise 
more  money  on  his  property ;  and  we  have  four  months  in 
which  to  pay  two  hundred  thousand  francs  to  the  vendors. 
Between  now  and  then  Monsieur  Birotteau  will  meet  his  bills 
(for  he  ought  not  to  reckon  on  meeting  them  with  the  money 
which  Roguin  made  off  with).  But  if  Monsieur  Birotteau 


200  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

should  find  himself  a  little  pinched well,  with  one  or  two 

accommodation  bills,  he  will  pull  through." 

The  perfumer  took  heart  as  he  listened.  Claparon  analyzed 
the  business,  summed  it  up,  and  traced  out  a  plan  of  action, 
as  it  were,  for  him.  Gradually  his  expression  grew  decided 
and  resolute,  and  he  conceived  a  great  respect  for  the  ex-com- 
mercial traveler's  business  capacity.  Du  Tillet  had  thought 
it  expedient  to  make  Claparon  believe  that  he  was  one  of 
Roguin's  victims.  He  had  given  Claparon  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  to  give  to  Roguin,  who  returned  them  to  du 
Tillet.  Claparon,  being  uneasy,  played  his  part  to  the  life ; 
he  told  anybody  who  cared  to  listen  to  him  that  Roguin  had 
mulcted  him  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs.  Du  Tillet 
doubted  Claparon's  strength  of  mind ;  he  fancied  that  prin- 
ciples of  honesty  and  conscientious  scruples  still  lingered  in 
his  puppet,  and  would  not  confide  the  whole  of  his  plans  to 
him  ;  he  knew,  moreover,  that  his  instrument  was  incapable 
of  guessing  at  them. 

A  day  came  when  his  commercial  go-between  reproached 
him.  "If  our  first  friend  is  not  our  first  dupe,  we  should 
never  find  the  second,"  said  du  Tillet  to  the  dissipated  Clap- 
aron, and  he  broke  in  pieces  the  tool  which  was  no  longer 
useful. 

M.  Lebas  and  Claparon  went  out  together,  and  Birotteau 
was  left  alone. 

"  I  can  pull  through,"  he  said  to  himself.  "  My  liabilities, 
in  the  shape  of  bills  to  be  met,  amount  to  two  hundred  and 
thirty-five  thousand  francs.  That  is  to  say — seventy-five  thou- 
sand francs  for  the  house  and  a  hundred  and  seventy-five 
thousand  francs  for  the  building  land.  Now,  to  cover  this,  I 
have  Roguin's  dividend,  which  will  amount  may  be  to  a 
hundred  thousand  francs ;  and  I  can  cancel  the  loan  on  my 
land,  that  is  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs  in  all. 
The  thing  to  be  done  is  to  make  a  hundred  thousand  francs 
by  the  Cephalic  Oil;  and  a  few  accommodation  bills  or  a 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU:  201 

loan  from  a  banker  will  tide  me  over  until  I  can  make  good 
the  loss  and  the  building  land  reaches  its  enhanced  value." 

When  a  man  in  misfortune  can  once  weave  a  romance  of 
hope  out  of  the  more  or  less  solid  reasonings  with  which  he 
fills  the  pillow  on  which  he  lays  his  head,  he  is  often  saved. 
Many  a  one  has  taken  the  confidence  given  by  an  illusion  for 
energy.  Perhaps  the  half  of  courage  is  really  hope,  and  the 
Catholic  religion  reckons  hope  among  the  virtues.  Has  not 
hope  buoyed  up  many  a  weakling,  giving  him  time  to  await 
the  chances  which  life  brings? 

Birotteau  made  up  his  mind  to  apply,  in  the  first  place,  to 
his  wife's  uncle,  and  to  disclose  his  position  to  his  relative 
before  going  elsewhere.  He  went  down  the  Rue  Saint- 
Honor6  and  reached  the  Rue  Bourdonnais,  not  without  ex- 
periencing inward  pangs,  which  caused  such  violent  internal 
disturbance  that  he  thought  his  health  was  deranged.  There 
was  a  fire  in  his  vitals.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  those  whose  sen- 
tience is  keenest  in  the  diaphragm  suffer  in  that  region ;  just 
as  those  whose  faculty  of  perception  resides  in  the  brain  suffer 
in  the  head.  In  grave  crises  the  system  is  attacked  at  the 
point  where  the  temperament  locates  the  seat  of  life  in  the 
individual ;  weaklings  have  the  colic,  a  Napoleon  grows 
drowsy. 

Before  a  man  of  honor  can  storm  a  confidence  and  over- 
leap the  barriers  of  pride,  he  must  have  felt  the  prick  of  the 
spur  of  Necessity,  that  hard  rider,  more  than  once.  So  for 
two  days  Birotteau  had  borne  that  spurring  before  he  went  to 
see  Pillerault,  and  then  family  reasons  decided  him — however 
things  might  go,  he  must  explain  the  position  to  the  stern 
hardware  man.  Yet,  for  all  that,  when  he  reached  the  door  he 
felt  in  his  inmost  soul  as  a  child  feels  on  a  visit  to  the  dentist, 
that  his  courage  was  sinking  away  ;  and  Birotteau  was  not  about 
to  face  a  momentary  pang,  he  quailed  before  a  whole  lifetime 
to  come.  Slowly  he  went  up  the  stairs,  and  found  the  old 
man  reading  the  "  Constitutionnel  "  by  the  fireside;  on  a 


202  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

little  round  table  his  frugal  breakfast  was  set — a  roll,  butter, 
Brie  cheese,  and  a  cup  of  coffee. 

"  There  is  real  wisdom,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself,  and  he 
envied  his  uncle's  life. 

"  Well,"  said  Pillerault,  laying  down  his  spectacles,  "  I 
heard  about  Roguin's  affair  yesterday  at  the  Cafe  David;  so 
his  mistress,  the  Beautiful  Dutchwoman,  is  murdered  !  I  hope 
that,  warned  by  us  who  want  to  be  actual  proprietors,  you 
have  been  to  Claparon  and  taken  a  receipt?" 

"  Alas  !  uncle,  that  is  just  it ;  you  have  laid  your  finger  on 
the  spot.  No." 

"Oh,  bother!  you  are  ruined,"  said  Pillerault,  dropping 
his  paper ;  and  Birotteau  picked  it  up,  although  it  was  the 
"  Constitutionnel." 

This  thought  was  such  a  shock  that  Pillerault's  stern  feat- 
ures, always  like  a  profile  on  a  coin,  grew  hard  as  if  they  had 
been  struck  in  bronze.  He  stared  with  steady  eyes  that  saw 
nothing,  through  the  windows,  at  the  opposite  wall,  and  lis- 
tened while  Birotteau  poured  out  a  long  discourse.  Evidently 
while  he  heard  he  deliberated  ;  he  was  pondering  the  case 
with  the  inflexibility  of  a  Minos  who  crossed  the  Styx  of  com- 
merce, when  he  left  the  Quai  des  Morfondos  for  his  little 
fourth-floor  dwelling. 

"Well,  uncle?"  asked  Birotteau  at  last,  expecting  some 
answer  to  a  final  entreaty  to  sell  rentes  worth  sixty  thousand 
francs  a  year. 

"Well,  my  poor  nephew,  I  cannot  do  it.  Things  have 
gone  too  far.  We,  the  Ragons  and  I,  shall  both  lose  fifty 
thousand  francs.  It  was  by  my  advice  that  the  good  folk  sold 
their  shares  in  the  Worstchin  Mines.  I  feel  myself  bound,  if 
they  lose  the  money,  not  to  replace  their  capital,  but  to  give 
them  a  helping  hand,  and  to  help  my  niece  and  Cesarine. 
You  might,  perhaps,  all  of  you  want  bread,  and  you  must  come 
to  me " 

"Bread,  uncle?" 


C^SAR  BIROTTEAU.  203 

"Well,  yes,  bread.  Just  look  the  facts  in  the  face:  you 
will  not  pull  through  !  Out  of  five  thousand  six  hundred 
francs  a  year,  I  will  set  aside  four  thousand  to  divide  between 
you  and  the  Ragons.  When  your  disaster  comes,  I  know 
Constance,  she  will  slave  and  deny  herself  everything — and 
so  will  you,  Cesar  !  " 

"  There  is  yet  hope,  uncle." 

"  I  do  not  see  it  as  you  do." 

"  I  will  prove  the  contrary." 

"  Nothing  would  please  me  better." 

Birotteau  went  without  an  answer  for  Pillerault.  He  had 
come  to  find  comfort  and  encouragement,  he  had  received  a 
second  blow  ;  a  blow  less  heavy  than  the  first  one,  it  is  true  ; 
but  whereas  the  first  had  been  dealt  at  his  head,  this  thrust  had 
gone  to  his  heart,  and  the  poor  man's  life  lay  in  his  affections. 
He  had  gone  down  part  of  the  way,  and  then  he  turned  and 
went  up  again. 

"  Sir,"  he  said,  in  a  constrained  voice,  "  Constance  knows 
nothing  of  this,  keep  the  secret  for  me  at  least ;  and  beg  the 
Ragons  not  to  disturb  the  peace  that  I  need  if  I  am  to  fight 
against  misfortune." 

Pillerault  made  a  sign  of  assent. 

"Take  courage,  C6sar,"  he  said.  "I  see  that  you  are 
angry  with  me,  but  some  day  you  will  acknowledge  that  I  am 
right,  when  you  think  of  your  wife  and  daughter." 

Discouraged  by  this  opinion  given  by  his  uncle,  whose 
clear-headedness  he  acknowledged,  Cesar  suddenly  dropped 
from  the  heights  of  hope  into  the  miry  slough  of  uncertainty. 
When  a  man's  affairs  take  an  ugly  turn  like  this  he  is  apt  to 
become  the  plaything  of  circumstances,  unless  he  is  of  Piller- 
ault's  temper;  he  follows  other  people's  ideas,  or  his  own,  much 
as  a  wayfarer  pursues  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  He  allows  himself  to 
be  swept  away  by  the  whirlwind  when  he  should  either  lie 
prostrate  with  his  eyes  shut,  and  let  it  pass  over  him,  or  rise 
and  watch  the  direction  that  it  takes,  to  escape  the  blast.  In 


204  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

the  midst  of  his  anguish,  Birotteau  bethought  himself  of  the 
necessary  steps  to  be  taken  with  regard  to  his  loan.  He  went 
to  see  Derville,  a  consulting  barrister  in  the  Rue  Vivienne,  so 
as  to  set  about  it  the  sooner,  if  Derville  should  see  any 
chance  of  canceling  the  contract.  Him  he  found  sitting, 
wrapped  in  his  white  flannel  dressing-gown,  by  the  fireside, 
staid  and  self-possessed,  as  is  the  wont  of  men  of  law,  accus- 
tomed as  they  are  to  the  most  harrowing  disclosures.  Bi- 
rotteau felt,  as  a  new  thing  in  his  experience,  this  necessary 
coolness ;  it  was  like  ice  to  an  excited  man  like  Birotteau 
telling  the  story  of  his  misfortunes,  smarting  from  the  wounds 
that  he  had  received,  stricken  with  the  fever  induced  by  the 
risks  his  fortunes  were  running,  and  cruelly  beset,  since  honor 
and  life  and  wife  and  child  were  all  imperiled. 

"If  it  is  proved,"  said  Derville,  when  he  had  heard  him 
out,  "  that  the  lender  no  longer  had  in  Roguin's  keeping  the 
sum  of  money  which  Roguin  induced  you  to  borrow  of  him, 
as  there  has  been  no  transfer  of  the  actual  money,  the  con- 
tract might  be  annulled,  and  the  lender  will  have  his  remedy 
(as  you  also  will  have  for  your  hundred  thousand  francs)  in 
Roguin's  caution-money.  In  that  case,  I  will  answer  for  your 
lawsuit,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  answer  for  any  action  at  law, 
for  no  action  is  a  foregone  conclusion." 

The  opinion  of  so  learned  an  expert  put  a  little  heart  into 
Birotteau.  He  begged  Derville  to  obtain  a  judgment  within 
a  fortnight.  The  advocate  answered  to  the  effect  that  Birot- 
teau might  be  obliged  to  wait  three  months  before  the  contract 
would  be  annulled. 

"Three  months!"  cried  Birotteau,  who  thought  that  he 
had  found  an  expedient  for  raising  money  at  once. 

"  Well,  if  you  yourself  succeed  in  gaining  a  prompt  hearing 
for  your  case,  we  cannot  hurry  your  opponent  to  suit  your 
pace ;  he  will  take  advantage  of  the  delays  of  procedure ; 
advocates  are  not  always  at  the  Palais ;  who  knows  but  that 
the  other  party  will  let  judgment  go  against  him  by  default  ? 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  205 

And  he  will  appeal.  You  can't  set  your  own  pace,  my  dear 
sir!  "  said  Derville,  smiling. 

"But  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce " 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  advocate,  "  the  Consular  Tribunal  is  one 
thing  and  the  Tribunal  of  First  Instance  is  another.  You 
do  things  in  a  slashing  way  over  yonder.  Now,  at  the  Palais 
de  Justice  there  are  formalities  to  be  gone  through.  These 
formalities  are  the  bulwarks  of  justice.  How  would  you  like 
it  if  a  demand  for  forty  thousand  francs  was  suddenly  fired  off 
at  you?  Well,  your  opponent,  who  will  see  that  amount 
compromised,  will  dispute  it.  Delays  are  the  spiked  wall  of 
the  law." 

"You  are  right,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  took  leave  of 
Derville  with  a  deadly  chill  at  his  heart.  "  They  are  all 
right.  Money  !  Money  !  "  cried  the  perfumer,  out  in  the 
street,  talking  to  himself,  as  is  the  wont  of  busy  men  in  this 
turbulent,  seething  Paris,  which  a  modern  poet  calls  "a  vat." 

As  he  came  into  his  store,  one  of  the  assistants,  who  had 
been  out  delivering  invoices  to  the  customers,  told  him  that, 
as  the  New  Year  was  at  hand,  every  one  had  torn  off  the 
receipt-form  at  the  foot  and  kept  the  invoices. 

"  Then  there  is  no  money  anywhere  !  "  Birotteau  exclaimed 
aloud  in  the  store.  All  the  assistants  looked  up  at  this,  and 
he  bit  his  lips. 

In  this  way  five  days  went  by ;  and  during  those  five  days 
Braschon,  Lourdois,  Thorien,  Grindot,  Chaffaroux,  and  all 
the  creditors  whose  bills  remained  unpaid,  passed  through  the 
chameleon's  intermediate  transitions  of  tone,  from  the  serene 
hues  of  confidence  to  the  wrathful  red  of  the  commercial 
Bellona.  In  Paris,  in  such  crises,  suspicion  is  as  quick  to 
reach  the  panic  stage  as  confidence  is  slow  to  show  expansive 
symptoms  ;  and,  when  a  creditor  once  adopts  the  restringent 
system  of  doubts  and  precautions  in  business  relations,  he  is 
apt  to  descend  to  underhand  villainies  that  put  him  below  his 
debtor's  level.  From  cringing  civility  the  creditors  passed 


206  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

successively  through  the  inflammatory  phase,  the  red  of  im- 
patience, the  lurid  coruscations  of  importunity,  to  outbursts 
of  disappointment,  and  from  the  cold-blue  stage  of  making 
up  their  minds  to  the  black  insolence  of  threatening  to  serve 
a  writ. 

Braschon,  the  rich  furniture  dealer  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine,  who  had  not  been  included  in  the  invitations  to  the 
ball,  sounded  to  arms  in  his  quality  of  the  creditor  whose  self- 
love  has  been  wounded.  Paid  he  meant  to  be,  and  within 
twenty-four  hours ;  he  required  security,  not  deposits  of  furni- 
ture, but  a  second  mortgage,  the  mortgage  for  forty  thousand 
francs  on  the  property  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple.  In  spite 
of  their  furious  recriminations,  these  gentry  still  left  Cesar 
occasional  intervals  of  peace  when  he  might  breathe ;  but  in- 
stead of  bringing  a  resolute  will  to  carry  these  outworks  of  an 
awkward  position,  and  so  putting  an  end  to  them,  Birotteau 
was  taxing  all  his  wits  to  keep  the  state  of  things  from  the 
knowledge  of  his  wife,  and  the  one  person  who  could  give 
him  counsel  knew  nothing  of  his  difficulties.  He  stood  sen- 
tinel on  the  threshold  of  his  store.  He  confided  his  mo- 
mentary inconvenience  to  Celestin,  who  watched  his  employer 
with  curious  and  astonished  eyes;  already  Cesar  had  fallen 
somewhat  in  his  esteem,  as  men  accustomed  to  prosperity 
are  apt  to  dwindle  when  evil  days  discover  that  all  their 
power  consists  in  the  increased  facility  of  dealing  with  mat- 
ters of  every-day  experience,  acquired  by  an  ordinary  intelli- 
gence. 

But  if  C6sar  lacked  the  mental  energy  required  for  defend- 
ing himself  when  attacked  at  so  many  points  at  once,  he  had 
sufficient  courage  to  face  his  position.  Before  the  i5th  of 
January  he  required  the  sum  of  sixty  thousand  francs,  and 
thirty  thousand  of  these  were  due  on  the  315!  of  December. 
Part  of  this  sum  was  owing  for  the  house,  part  for  rent  and 
accounts  to  be  paid  in  ready  money,  part  of  it  in  bills  to 
be  met ;  with  all  his  efforts  he  could  only  collect  twenty 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  207 

thousand  francs,  so  that  there  was  a  deficit  of  ten  thousand  to 
be  made  up  by  the  end  of  the  month.  Nothing  seemed  hope- 
less to  him,  for  he  had  already  ceased  to  look  beyond  the 
present  moment,  and,  like  an  adventurer,  had  begun  to  live 
from  day  to  day.  At  length  he  resolved  to  make  what  for 
him  was  a  bold  stroke.  Before  it  was  known  that  he  was  in 
difficulties,  he  would  apply  to  Francois  Keller,  banker,  orator, 
and  philanthropist,  widely  known  for  his  beneficence,  and  for 
his  desire  to  stand  well  with  the  mercantile  world  of  Paris, 
always  with  a  view  to  representing  their  interests  one  day  as  a 
deputy  in  the  Chamber.  In  politics  the  banker  was  a  Liberal, 
and  Cesar  was  a  Royalist ;  but  the  perfumer  decided  that  the 
capitalist  was  a  man  after  his  own  heart,  and  that  a  difference 
of  opinion  in  politics  was  but  one  reason  the  more  for  opening 
an  account.  If  paper  should  be  necessary,  he  did  not  doubt 
Popinot's  devotion,  and  counted  upon  obtaining  from  him 
some  thirty  bills  of  a  thousand  francs  each ;  with  these  he 
might  hold  out  until  he  gained  his  lawsuit,  the  forty  thousand 
francs  involved  in  it  being  offered  as  security  to  the  most 
urgent  creditors. 

The  effusive  soul,  who  was  wont  to  confide  to  the  pillow  of 
his  dear  Constance  the  least  emotions  of  his  existence,  who 
drew  his  courage  from  her,  and  was  wont  to  seek  of  her  the 
light  thrown  by  contradiction  on  all  topics,  was  cut  off  from 
all  exchange  of  ideas  with  his  first  assistant,  his  uncle,  and 
his  wife,  and  found  that  the  weight  of  his  cares  was  thereby 
doubled.  Yet  this  self-sacrificing  martyr  preferred  suffering 
alone  to  the  alternative  of  casting  his  wife's  soul  into  the  fiery 
furnace ;  he  would  tell  her  about  the  danger  when  it  was  past. 
Perhaps,  too,  he  shrank  from  telling  her  the  hideous  secret ; 
he  stood  in  some  fear  of  his  wife,  and  this  fear  lent  him  cour- 
age. He  went  every  morning  to  low  mass  at  Saint-Roch  and 
told  his  troubles  to  God. 

"  If  I  do  not  meet  a  soldier  on  my  way  back  from  Saint- 
Roch,  I  will  take  it  as  a  sign  that  my  prayer  is  heard.  It 


208  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

shall  be  God's  answer  to  me,"  he  said  to  himself,  after  he  had 
prayed  for  deliverance. 

And,  for  his  happiness,  he  did  not  meet  a  soldier.  Yet, 
nevertheless,  his  heart  was  overfull,  and  he  needed  another 
human  heart  to  whom  he  could  make  moan.  Cesarine,  to 
whom  he  had  already  told  the  fatal  news,  learned  the  whole 
truth,  and  stolen  glances  were  exchanged  between  them, 
glances  fraught  with  despair  or  repressed  hope,  passionate 
invocations,  appeals,  and  sympathetic  responses,  answering 
gleams  of  intelligence  between  soul  and  soul.  For  his  wife 
Cesar  put  on  high  spirits  and  mirth.  If  Constance  asked  any 
question — "Pshaw,  everything  was  all  right.  Popinot  "  (to 
whom  Cesar  gave  not  a  thought)  "  was  doing  well !  The  Oil 
was  selling  !  Claparon's  bills  would  be  met ;  there  was  noth- 
ing to  fear."  The  hollow  merriment  was  ghastly.  When  his 
wife  lay  sleeping  amid  the  splendors,  Birotteau  would  rise 
and  fall  to  thinking  over  his  misfortunes ;  and  more  than  once 
Cdsarine  came  in,  in  her  night-dress,  barefooted,  with  a  shawl 
about  her  white  shoulders. 

"Papa,  you  are  crying;  I  can  hear  you,"  she  would  say, 
and  she  would  cry  herself  as  she  spoke. 

When  C6sar  had  written  to  ask  the  great  Francois  Keller 
to  make  an  appointment  with  him  he  fell  into  such  a  state  of 
torpor  that  Cesarine  persuaded  him  to  walk  out  with  her.  In 
the  streets  of  Paris  he  saw  nothing  but  huge  red  placards,  and 
the  words  CEPHALIC  OIL  in  staring  letters  everywhere  met  his 
eyes. 

While  the  glory  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  was  thus  waning  in 
disastrous  gloom,  the  firm  of  A.  Popinot  was  dawning  radiant 
with  the  sunrise  splendors  of  success.  Anselme  had  taken 
counsel  of  Gaudissart  and  Finot,  and  had  launched  his  oil 
boldly.  During  the  past  three  days  two  thousand  placards 
had  been  posted  in  the  most  conspicuous  situations  in  Paris. 
Every  one  in  the  streets  was  confronted  with  the  Cephalic  Oil, 
and  willy-nilly  must  read  the  pithy  remarks  from  Finot's  pen 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  209 

as  to  the  impossibility  of  stimulating  the  growth  of  the  hair, 
and  the  perils  attendant  on  dyeing  it,  together  with  an  extract 
from  a  paper  read  before  the  Academic  des  Sciences  by  Vau- 
quelin.  It  was  as  good  as  a  certificate  of  existence  for  dead 
hair,  thus  held  out  to  those  who  should  use  the  Cephalic  Oil. 
The  store-doors  of  every  perfumer,  hair-dresser,  and  wigmaker 
in  Paris  were  made  glorious  with  gilded  frames,  containing  a 
beautiful  design,  printed  on  vellum  paper,  with  a  reduced 
fac-simile  of  the  picture  of  "  Hero  and  Leander  "  at  the  top, 
and  beneath  it  ran  the  motto  :  The  ancient  peoples  of  antiquity 
preserved  their  hair  by  the  use  of  CEPHALIC  OIL. 

"  He  has  thought  of  permanent  frames ;  he  has  found  an 
advertisement  that  will  last  for  ever !  "  said  Birotteau  to  him- 
self, as  he  stood  staring  in  dull  amazement  at  the  store-front 
of  the  Silver  Bell. 

"Then  you  did  not  see  a  frame  on  your  own  door?" 
asked  his  daughter.  "  Monsieur  Anselme  brought  it  himself, 
and  left  three  hundred  bottles  of  the  oil  with  Celestin." 

"No,  I  did  not  see  it,"  he  answered. 

"  And  Celestin  has  already  sold  fifty  to  chance-comers  and 
sixty  to  our  own  customers." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  Cesar. 

The  sound  of  n?yriad  bells  that  misery  sets  ringing  in  the 
ears  of  her  victims  had  made  the  perfumer  dizzy ;  his  head 
seemed  to  spin  round  and  round  in  those  days.  Popinot  had 
waited  a  whole  hour  to  speak  with  him  on  the  day  before, 
and  had  gone  away  after  chatting  with  Constance  and 
Cesarine ;  the  women  told  him  that  C6sar  was  very  busy 
over  his  great  scheme. 

"  Oh  yes,  the  building  land  !  "  Popinot  had  said. 

Luckily,  Popinot  had  not  left  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants 
for  a  month ;  he  had  worked  day  and  night  at  his  business, 
and  had  seen  neither  Ragon,  nor  Pillerault,  nor  his  uncle. 
The  poor  lad  was  never  in  bed  before  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning ;  he  had  only  two  assistants,  and  at  the  rate  at  which 
14 


210  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

things  were  going  he  would  soon  have  work  enough  for 
four.  Opportunity  is  everything  in  business;  success  is  a 
horse  which,  if  caught  by  the  mane  and  ridden  by  a  bold 
rider,  will  carry  him  on  to  fortune.  Popinot  told  himself 
that  he  should  receive  a  welcome  when,  at  the  end  of  six 
months,  he  could  carry  the  news  to  his  aunt  and  uncle — "  I 
am  saved;  my  fortune  is  made!" — a  welcome,  too,  from 
Birotteau  when,  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-year,  he  should 
bring  him  his  share  of  the  profits — thirty  or  forty  thousand 
francs!  He  had  not  heard  of  Roguin's  disappearance,  nor 
of  Cesar's  consequent  disasters  and  difficulties ;  so  that  he 
could  not  let  fall  any  indiscreet  remarks  in  Madame  Birot- 
teau's  presence. 

Popinot  had  promised  Finot  five  hundred  francs  for  each 
of  the  leading  newspapers  (ten  in  all),  and  three  hundred 
francs  for  each  second-rate  paper  (and  of  these,  too,  there 
were  ten),  if  the  Cephalic  Oil  was  mentioned  three  times  a 
month  in  each.  Of  those  eight  thousand  francs,  Finot  be- 
held three  thousand  as  his  own,  his  first  stake  to  lay  on  the 
vast  green  table  of  speculation.  So  he  had  sprung  like  a  lion 
upon  his  friends  and  acquaintances ;  he  haunted  newspaper 
offices ;  writers  of  newspaper  articles  awoke  from  slumber  to 
find  him  sitting  by  their  pillows ;  and  the  evening  found  him 
pacing  the  lobbies  of  all  the  theatres.  "  Remember  my  oil, 
my  dear  fellow ;  it  is  nothing  to  me ;  a  matter  of  good-fel- 
lowship, you  know;  Gaudissart,  a  jolly  dog."  With  this 
formula,  his  harangues  always  began  and  ended.  He  filled 
up  spaces  at  the  foot  of  the  last  columns  in  the  papers,  and 
left  the  money  to  those  upon  the  staff.  He  was  as  cunning 
as  any  super  who  is  minded  to  transform  himself  into  an 
actor,  and  as  active  as  an  errand  boy  on  sixty  francs  a  month; 
he  wrote  insinuating  letters,  he  worked  on  the  vanity  of  all 
and  sundry,  he  did  dirty  work  for  editors,  to  the  end  that  his 
paragraphs  might  be  inserted  in  their  papers.  His  enthusi- 
astic energy  left  no  means  untried — money,  dinners,  plati- 


C£SAR  BIROTTEAU.  211 

tudes.  By  means  of  tickets  for  the  play  he  corrupted  the 
men  who  finish  off  the  columns  toward  midnight  with  short 
paragraphs  of  small  news  items  already  set  up  ;  hanging  about 
the  printing-office  for  that  purpose,  as  if  he  had  proofs  to 
revise. 

So  by  dint  of  making  every  one  his  friend,  Finot  secured 
the  triumph  of  the  Cephalic  Oil  over  the  Pdte  de  Regnault 
and  the  Mixture  Bresilienne,  over  all  the  inventions,  in  fact, 
whose  promoters  had  the  wit  to  comprehend  the  influence  of 
journalism  and  the  effect  produced  upon  the  public  mind  by 
the  piston-stroke  of  the  reiterated  paragraph.  In  that  age 
of  innocence,  journalists,  like  draught-oxen,  were  unaware  of 
their  strength ;  their  heads  ran  on  actresses — Mesdemoiselles 
Florine,  Tullia,  Mariette — they  lorded  it  over  all  creation, 
and  made  no  practical  use  of  their  powers.  In  Andoche's 
propositions  there  was  no  actress  to  be  applauded,  no  drama 
to  be  put  upon  the  stage ;  he  did  not  ask  them  to  make  a 
success  of  his  vaudevilles,  nor  to  pay  him  for  his  paragraphs ; 
on  the  contrary,  he  offered  money  in  season  and  opportune 
breakfasts ;  so  there  was  not  a  newspaper  that  did  not  men- 
tion the  Cephalic  Oil,  and  how  that  it  was  in  accordance  with 
Vauquelin's  investigations;  not  a  journal  that  did  not  scoff 
at  the  superstition  that  the  hair  could  be  induced  to  grow 
and  proclaim  the  danger  of  dyeing  it. 

These  paragraphs  rejoiced  Gaudissart's  heart.  He  laid  in 
a  supply  of  papers  wherewith  to  demolish  prejudice  in  the 
provinces,  and  accomplished  the  manoeuvre  known  among 
speculators  since  his  time  as  "taking  the  public  by  storm." 
In  those  days  newspapers  from  Paris  exercised  a  great  influ- 
ence in  the  departments,  the  hapless  country  districts  being 
still  "without  organs."  The  Paris  newspaper,  therefore,  was 
taken  up  as  a  serious  study,  and  read  through  from  the  head- 
ing to  the  printer's  name  on  the  last  line  of  the  last  page, 
where  the  irony  of  persecuted  opinion  might  be  supposed 
to  lurk. 


212  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Gaudissart,  thus  supported  by  the  press,  had  a  brilliant  suc- 
cess from  the  very  first  in  every  town  where  his  tongue  had 
play.  Every  provincial  storekeeper  was  anxious  for  a  frame 
and  copies  of  "Hero  and  Leander."  Finot  devised  that 
charming  joke  against  Macassar  Oil,  which  drew  such  laughter 
at  the  Funambules,  when  Pierrot  takes  up  an  old  house -brush, 
visibly  worn  down  to  the  holes,  and  rubs  it  with  Macassar  Oil, 
and,  lo,  the  stump  becomes  a  mop — a  piece  of  irony  which 
brought  down  the  house.  In  later  days  Finot  would  gaily  re- 
late how  that  but  for  those  three  thousand  francs  he  must 
have  died  of  want  and  misery.  For  him  three  thousand  francs 
was  a  fortune.  In  this  campaign  he  discovered  the  power 
of  advertising,  which  he  was  to  wield  so  wisely  and  so  much 
to  his  own  profit.  Three  months  later  this  pioneer  was  the 
editor  of  a  small  paper,  of  which  after  a  time  he  became  the 
proprietor,  and  so  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune.  Even 
as  the  illustrious  Gaudissart,  that  Murat  among  commercial 
travelers,  "took  the  public  by  storm,"  and  gained  brilliant 
victories  along  the  frontiers  and  in  the  provinces  for  the  house 
of  Popinot,  so  did  the  cause  gain  ground  in  public  opinion  in 
Paris,  thanks  to  the  desperate  assault  upon  the  newspapers, 
which  gave  it  the  prompt  publicity  likewise  secured  by  the 
Mixture  Bresilienne  and  the  P&te  de  Regnault.  Three  for- 
tunes were  made  by  this  means,  and  then  began  the  descent 
of  the  thousands  of  ambitious  tradesmen  who  have  since  gone 
down  by  battalions  into  the  arena  of  journalism,  and  there 
called  advertising  into  being.  A  mighty  revolution  was 
wrought. 

At  that  moment  the  words  "Popinot  &  Company"  were 
flaunting  on  every  wall  and  store-door ;  and  Birotteau,  unable 
to  measure  the  enormous  area  over  which  these  announcements 
were  displayed,  contented  himself  with  saying  to  Cesarine, 
"Little  Popinot  is  following  in  my  footsteps,"  without  com- 
prehending the  difference  of  the  times,  without  appreciation 
of  the  new  methods  and  improved  means  of  communication 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  213 

which  spread  intelligence  much  more  rapidly  than  hereto- 
fore. 

Birotteau  had  not  set  foot  in  his  factory  since  the  ball ;  he 
did  not  know  how  busy  and  energetic  Popinot  had  been. 
Anselme  had  set  all  Birotteau's  operatives  on  the  work,  and 
slept  in  the  place.  He  saw  Cesarine  sitting  on  every  packing- 
case  and  reclining  on  every  package  ;  her  face  looked  at  him 
from  each  new  invoice.  "  She  will  be  my  wife  !  "  he  said  to 
himself,  as,  with  coat  thrown  off  and  shirt-sleeves  rolled  above 
the  elbows,  he  hammered  in  the  nails  with  all  his  might, 
while  his  assistants  were  sent  out  on  business. 

The  next  day,  after  spending  the  whole  night  in  pondering 
what  to  say  and  what  not  to  say  to  the  great  banker,  C6sar 
reached  the  Rue  du  Houssaye  and  entered,  with  a  heart  that 
beat  painfully  fast,  the  mansion  of  the  Liberal  financier,  the 
adherent  of  a  political  party  accused,  and  not  unjustly,  of 
desiring  the  downfall  of  the  Bourbons.  To  Birotteau,  as  to 
most  small  merchants  in  Paris,  the  manners  and  customs  and 
the  personality  of  those  who  move  in  high  financial  circles 
were  quite  unknown  ;  for  the  smaller  traders  usually  deal  with 
lesser  houses,  which  form  a  sort  of  intermediate  term,  a  highly 
satisfactory  arrangement  for  the  great  capitalists,  who  find  in 
them  one  guarantee  the  more. 

Constance  and  Birotteau,  who  had  never  overdrawn  their 
balance,  who  had  never  known  what  it  was  to  have  no  money 
in  the  safe  and  no  bills  in  the  portfolio,  had  not  had  recourse 
to  these  banks  of  the  second  order ;  and,  for  the  best  reasons, 
were  entirely  unknown  in  the  higher  financial  world.  Per- 
haps it  is  a  mistaken  policy  seduously  to  abstain  from  borrow- 
ing even  though  you  may  not  require  the  money;  opinions 
differ  on  this  head  ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  Birotteau  at  that 
moment  deeply  regretted  that  he  had  never  put  his  signature 
to  a  piece  of  paper.  Yet,  as  he  was  known  as  a  deputy-mayor 
and  a  shrewd  man  of  business,  he  imagined  that  he  would 
only  have  to  mention  his  name,  and  he  should  see  the  banker 


214  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

at  once  ;  he  did  not  know  that  men  flocked  to  the  Kellers' 
audiences  as  to  the  court  of  a  king.  In  the  antechamber  of 
the  study  occupied  by  the  man  with  so  many  claims  to  great- 
ness, Birotteau  found  himself  among  a  crowd  composed  of 
deputies,  writers,  journalists,  stockbrokers,  great  merchants, 
men  of  business,  engineers,  and,  above  all,  of  familiars,  who 
made  their  way  through  the  groups  of  speakers  and  knocked 
in  a  particular  manner  at  the  door  of  the  study,  where  they 
had  the  privilege  of  entry. 

"What  am  I  in  the  middle  of  this  machinery?"  Birotteau 
asked  himself,  quite  bewildered  by  the  stir  and  bustle  in  this 
factory,  where  so  much  brain-power  was  at  work  furnishing 
daily  bread  for  the  camp  of  the  Opposition  ;  this  theatre  where 
rehearsals  of  the  grand  tragi-comedy  played  by  the  Left  were 
wont  to  take  place. 

On  one  hand  he  heard  a  discussion  relative  to  a  loan  that 
was  being  negotiated  to  complete  the  construction  of  the 
principal  lines  of  canal  recommended  by  the  Department  of 
Roads  and  Bridges  ;  a  question  of  millions  !  On  the  other, 
journalists,  the  bankers'  jackals,  were  talking  of  yesterday's 
sitting  and  of  their  patron's  extempore  speech.  During  the 
two  hours  while  he  waited,  he  saw  the  banker-politician 
thrice  emerge  from  his  cabinet,  accompanying  some  visitor  of 
importance  for  a  few  paces  through  the  antechamber.  Keller 
went  as  far  as  the  door  with  the  last — General  Foy. 

"  It  is  all  over  with  me  !  "  Birotteau  said  to  himself,  and 
something  clutched  at  his  heart. 

As  the  great  banker  returned  to  his  cabinet,  the  whole  troop 
of  courtiers,  friends,  and  followers  crowded  after  him,  like 
the  canine  race  about  some  attractive  female  of  the  species. 
One  or  two  bolder  curs  slipped  in  spite  of  him  into  the  audi- 
ence chamber.  The  conferences  lasted  for  five  minutes,  ten 
minutes,  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  Some  went  away  visibly  chop- 
fallen  ;  some  with  a  satisfied  look ;  some  assumed  important 
airs.  Time  went  by,  and  Birotteau  looked  anxiously  at  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  215 

clock.  No  one  paid  the  slightest  attention  to  the  man  with 
a  secret  care,  sighing  restlessly  in  the  gilded  chair  by  the 
hearth,  at  the  very  door  of  the  closet  that  contained  that 
panacea  for  all  troubles — credit. 

Dolefully  Cesar  thought  how  that  he,  too,  in  his  own  house, 
and  for  a  little  while,  had  been  a  king,  as  this  man  was, 
morning  after  morning ;  and  he  fathomed  the  depths  of  the 
abyss  into  which  he  was  falling.  He  had  bitter  thoughts  ! 
How  many  unshed  tears  were  crowded  in  those  two  hours  ! 
How  many  petitions  he  put  up  that  this  man  might  incline 
a  favorable  ear ;  for,  beneath  the  husk  of  popularity-seeking 
good-nature,  Birotteau  instinctively  felt  that  there  lurked  in 
Keller  an  insolent,  tyrannous,  and  violent  temper,  a  brutal 
craving  to  domineer,  which  alarmed  his  meek  nature.  At 
length,  when  but  ten  or  a  dozen  people  were  left,  Birotteau 
determined  to  start  up  when  the  outer  door  of  the  audience 
chamber  creaked  on  its  hinges,  and  to  put  himself  on  a  level 
with  the  great  public  speaker  with  the  remark,  "I  am  Birot- 
teau !  "  The  first  grenadier  who  flung  himself  into  the  re- 
doubt at  Borodino  did  not  display  more  courage  than  the  per- 
fumer when  he  made  up  his  mind  to  carry  out  this  manoeuvre. 

"  After  all,"  said  he  to  himself,  "  I  am  his  deputy-mayor," 
and  he  rose  to  give  his  name. 

Francois  Keller's  countenance  took  on  an  amiable  expres- 
sion ;  clearly  he  meant  to  be  civil ;  he  glanced  at  Birotteau's 
red  ribbon,  turned,  opened  the  door  of  his  cabinet,  and  indi- 
cated the  way  ;  but  stayed  behind  himself  for  a  while  to  speak 
with  two  new-comers  who  sprang  up  the  staircase  with  tem- 
pestuous speed. 

"  Decazes  would  like  to  speak  with  you,"  said  one  of  these 
two. 

"  It  is  a  question  of  making  an  end  of  the  Pavilion  Marsan  ! 
The  King  sees  clearly.  He  is  coming  over  to  us !  "  cried  the 
other. 

"  We  will  all  go  to  the  Chambers,"  returned  the  banker, 


216  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

and  he  entered  his  cabinet  with  the  air  of  the  frog  that  would 
fain  be  an  ox. 

"  How  can  he  think  of  his  own  affairs?"  thought  Cesar, 
overwhelmed. 

The  radiance  of  the  sun  of  superiority  dazzled  the  per- 
fumer, as  the  light  blinds  those  insects  which  can  only  exist 
in  the  shade  or  in  the  dusk  of  a  summer  night. 

Birotteau  saw  a  copy  of  the  Budget  lying  on  a  vast  table, 
among  piles  of  pamphlets  and  volumes  of  the  "Moniteur," 
which  lay  open,  displaying  marked  passages,  past  utterances 
of  a  minister,  which  were  shortly  to  be  hurled  at  his  head ;  he 
was  to  be  made  to  eat  his  words  amid  the  plaudits  of  a  crowd 
of  dunces,  incapable  of  comprehending  that  events  modify 
everything.  On  another  table  stood  a  collection  of  boxes 
full  of  papers,  a  heap  of  memorials  and  projects,  the  thousand 
and  one  reports  confided  to  a  man  in  whose  exchequer  every 
nascent  industry  endeavors  to  dip. 

The  regal  splendor  of  the  cabinet,  filled  with  pictures  and 
statues  and  works  of  art ;  the  litter  on  the  mantel ;  the  accum- 
ulations of  documents  relating  to  business  concerns  at  home 
and  abroad,  heaped  up  like  bales  of  goods — all  these  things 
impressed  Birotteau;  he  dwindled  in  his  own  eyes,  his  ner- 
vousness increased,  the  blood  ran  cold  in  his  veins. 

On  Francois  Keller's  desk  there  lay  some  bundles  of  bills, 
letters  of  exchange,  and  circular-letters.  To  these  the  great 
man  addressed  himself;  and,  as  he  swiftly  put  his  signature  to 
those  that  required  no  examination,  "  To  what  do  I  owe  the 
honor  of  your  visit,  sir?  "  asked  he. 

At  these  words  addressed  to  him  alone,  by  the  voice  that 
spoke  to  all  Europe,  while  the  restless  hand  never  ceased  to 
traverse  the  paper,  the  poor  perfumer  felt  as  if  a  red-hot  iron 
had  been  thrust  through  his  vitals.  His  face  forthwith  as- 
sumed that  ingratiating  expression  with  which  the  banker  had 
grown  familiar  during  ten  years  of  experience  ;  the  expres- 
sion always  meant  that  the  wearers  desired  to  involve  the 


"TO    WHAT    DC    I    OWE    THE    HONOR    OF    YOUR    VISIT,    SIR?' 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  217 

house  of  Keller  in  some  affair  of  great  importance  to  the 
would-be  borrowers  and  to  no  one  else,  an  expression  which 
shuts  the  banker's  doors  upon  them  at  once.  So  Francois 
Keller  shot  a  glance  at  Cesar,  a  Napoleonic  glance,  which 
seemed  to  go  through  the  perfumer's  head.  This  imitation 
of  their  Emperor  was  a  slight  piece  of  affectation  which 
certain  parvenus  permitted  themselves,  though  the  false  coin 
was  scarcely  a  passable  copy  of  the  true.  For  C6sar,  of  the 
extreme  Right  in  politics,  the  fanatical  partisan  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  factor  in  the  monarchical  election,  that  glance  was 
like  the  stamp  which  a  custom-house  officer  sets  on  a  bale  of 
goods. 

"  I  do  not  want  to  take  up  your  minutes  unduly,  sir ;  I  will 
be  brief.  I  have  come  on  a  simple  matter  of  private  business, 
to  know  if  you  will  open  a  loan  account  with  me.  As  an  ex- 
judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  and  a  man  well-known 
at  the  Bank  of  France,  you  can  understand  that  if  I  had  bills 
to  discount  I  should  only  have  to  apply  to  the  bank  where 
you  are  a  governor.  I  have  had  the  honor  of  being  associ- 
ated in  my  functions  at  the  Tribunal  with  Monsieur  le  Baron 
Thibon,  the  head  of  the  bill-discounting  department,  and  he 
certainly  would  not  refuse  me.  But,  as  I  have  never  tried  to 
borrow  money  nor  accepted  a  bill,  my  signature  is  unknown, 
and  you  know  how  many  difficulties  lie  in  the  way  of  nego- 
tiating a  loan  in  such  a  case " 

Keller  moved  his  head  ;  and  Birotteau,  construing  this  as  a 
sign  of  impatience,  continued — 

"The  fact  is,  sir,  that  I  have  engaged  in  a  speculation  in 
land,  outside  my  own  line  of  business " 

Francois  Keller,  still  signing  and  reading,  and,  to  all  ap- 
pearance, paying  no  attention  to  Cesar's  remarks,  turned  at 
this,  with  a  sign  that  he  was  following  what  was  said.  Birot- 
teau took  heart ;  his  affair  was  in  a  promising  way,  he  thought, 
he  breathed  more  freely. 

"  Go  on  ;  I  understand,"  said  Keller  good-humoredly. 


218  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  I  am  the  purchaser  of  one-half  of  the  building  land  near 
the  Madeleine." 

"Yes.  I  heard  from  Nucingen  of  the  big  affair  that  the 
firm  of  Claparon  is  negotiating." 

"  Well,"  the  perfumer  went  on,  "a  loan  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  secured  on  my  share  of  the  land  or  on  my  busi- 
ness, would  suffice  to  tide  me  over  until  I  can  touch  the 
profits  which  must  shortly  accrue  from  a  venture  in  my  own 
way  of  business.  If  necessary,  I  would  cover  the  amount  by 
bills  drawn  on  a  new  firm — Popinot  &  Company — a  young 
house  which " 

Keller  seemed  to  be  very  little  interested  in  this  description 
of  the  firm  of  Popinot,  and  Birotteau  gathered  that  he  had 
somehow  taken  a  wrong  turn  ;  he  stopped ;  then,  in  dismay  at 
the  pause,  he  went  on  again — 

"As  for  the  interest,  we " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  the  banker ;  "  the  thing  may  be  arranged, 
and  do  not  doubt  my  desire  to  meet  you  in  the  matter.  Oc- 
cupied as  I  am,  I  have  all  the  finances  of  Europe  on  my 
hands,  and  the  Chamber  absorbs  every  moment  of  my  time, 
so  you  will  not  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  leave  the  investiga- 
tion of  a  vast  amount  of  regular  business  to  my  managers.  Go 
downstairs  and  see  my  brother  Adolphe  ;  explain  the  nature 
of  your  guarantees  to  him  ;  and,  if  he  assents,  return  here  with 
him  to-morrow  or  the  day  after,  at  the  time  when  I  look  into 
affairs  of  this  kind,  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We  shall 
be  proud  and  happy  to  receive  your  confidence  ;  you  are  one 
of  the  consistent  Royalists;  and  your  esteem  is  the  more  flat- 
tering, since  that  politically  we  may  find  ourselves  at  enmity." 

"Sir,"  said  the  perfumer,  elated  by  this  oratorical  flourish, 
"  I  am  as  deserving  of  the  honor  you  do  me  as  of  the  signal 

mark  of  royal  favor not  unmerited  by  the  discharge  of 

my  functions  at  the  Consular  Tribunal,  and  by  fighting  for 
the " 

"Yes,"  continued  the  banker,  "the  reputation  which  you 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  219 

enjoy  is  a  passport,  Monsieur  Birotteau.  You  are  sure  to 
propose  nothing  that  is  not  feasible,  and  you  can  reckon  upon 
our  cooperation," 

A  door,  which  Birotteau  had  not  noticed,  was  opened,  and 
a  woman  entered ;  it  was  Mme.  Keller,  one  of  the  two  daugh- 
ters of  the  Comte  de  Gondreville,  a  peer  of  France. 

"  I  hope  I  shall  see  you,  dear,  before  you  go  to  the  Cham- 
ber," said  she. 

"It  is  two  o'clock,"  exclaimed  the  banker;  "the  battle 
has  begun.  Excuse  me,  sir, -the  question  is  one  of  upsetting  a 

ministry "  he  went  as  far  as  the  door  of  the  salon  with  the 

perfumer,  and  bade  a  man  in  livery  :  "Take  this  gentleman  to 
Monsieur  Adolphe." 

Birotteau  traversed  a  labyrinth  of  staircases  on  the  way  to 
a  private  office,  less  sumptuous  than  the  cabinet  of  the  head 
of  the  firm,  but  more  business-like  in  appearance ;  he  was 
borne  along  by  an  if,  that  easiest  pacing  mount  that  hope  can 
furnish  ;  he  stroked  his  chin,  and  thought  that  the  great  man's 
compliments  augured  excellently  well  for  his  plans.  It  was 
regrettable  that  a  man  so  amiable,  so  capable,  so  great  an 
orator,  should  be  inimical  to  the  Bourbons. 

Still  full  of  these  illusions,  he  entered  M.  Adolphe  Keller's 
sanctum,  a  bare,  chilly-looking  room.  Dingy  curtains  hung 
in  the  windows,  the  floor  was  covered  with  a  much-worn 
carpet,  and  the  furniture  consisted  of  a  couple  of  cylinder 
desks  and  one  or  two  office  chairs.  This  cabinet  was  to  the 
first  as  the  kitchen  to  the  dining-room,  as  the  factory  to  the 
store.  Here  matters  of  business  were  penetrated  to  the  core, 
here  enterprises  were  analyzed,  and  preliminary  charges  levied 
by  the  bank  on  all  promising  undertakings.  Here  originated 
all  those  bold  strokes  for  which  the  Kellers  were  so  well  known 
in  the  highest  commercial  regions,  when  they  would  secure 
and  rapidly  exploit  a  monopoly  in  a  few  days.  Here,  too, 
omissions  on  the  part  of  the  legislature  received  careful  atten- 
tion, and  unblushing  demands  were  made  for  "sops  in  the 


220  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

pan  "  (in  the  language  of  the  Stock  Exchange)  ;  that  is  to  say, 
for  money  paid  in  consideration  for  small  indefinable  services, 
for  standing  godfather  to  an  infant  enterprise,  and  so  accred- 
iting it.  Here  were  woven  those  tissues  of  fraud  after  a  legal 
pattern,  which  consist  in  investing  money  as  a  sleeping- 
partner  in  some  concern  in  temporary  difficulties,  with  a  view 
to  slaughtering  the  affair  as  soon  as  it  succeeds ;  the  brothers 
would  lie  in  wait,  call  in  their  capital  at  a  critical  moment — 
an  ugly  manoeuvre  that  put  the  whole  thing  in  their  own 
hands  and  involved  the  hapless  active  partner  in  their  covet- 
ous toils. 

The  two  brothers  adopted  separate  rdles.  On  high  stood 
Francois,  the  politician,  the  man  of  brilliant  parts;  he  bore 
himself  like  a  king,  he  distributed  favors  and  promises,  he 
made  himself  agreeable  to  every  one.  Everything  was  easy 
when  you  spoke  with  him;  he  did  business  royally;  he  poured 
out  the  heady  wine  of  fair  words,  which  intoxicated  inexperi- 
enced speculators  and  promoters  of  new  schemes ;  lae  devel- 
oped their  own  ideas  for  them.  But  Adolphe  below  absolved 
his  brother  on  the  score  of  political  preoccupations,  and  clev- 
erly raked  in  the  winnings ;  he  was  the  responsible  brother, 
the  one  who  was  hard  to  persuade,  so  that  there  were  two 
words  to  every  bargain  concluded  with  that  treacherous  house, 
and  not  seldom  the  gracious  Yes  of  the  sumptuous  cabinet  was 
transmuted  into  a  dry  No  in  Adolphe's  office. 

This  manoeuvre  of  delay  gained  time  for  reflection,  and 
often  served  to  amuse  less  skillful  competitors. 

Adolphe  Keller  was  chatting  with  the  famous  Palma,  the 
trusted  counselor  of  the  house,  who  withdrew  as  Birotteau 
came  in.  The  perfumer  explained  his  errand  ;  and  Adolphe, 
the  more  cunning  of  the  two  brothers,  lynx-natured,  keen- 
eyed,  thin-lipped,  hard-favored,  listened  to  him  with  lowered 
head,  watching  the  applicant  over  his  spectacles,  eying  him 
the  while  with  what  must  be  called  the  banker's  gaze,  in 
which  there  is  something  of  the  vulture,  something  of  the 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  221 

attorney ;  a  gaze  at  once  covetous  and  cold,  clear  and  inscru- 
table, sombre  and  ablaze  with  light. 

"  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  send  me  the  documents  relative 
to  this  Madeleine  affair,"  said  he,  "since  therein  lies  the 
guarantee  of  the  account ;  they  must  be  examined  into  before 
we  begin  to  discuss  the  case  on  its  merits.  If  the  affair  is 
satisfactory,  we  might  possibly,  to  avoid  encumbering  you,  be 
content  to  take  part  of  the  profits  instead  of  discount." 

"Come,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself,  as  he  went  home 
again,  "  I  see  his  drift.  Like  the  hunted  beaver,  I  must  part 
with  some  of  my  skin.  It  is  better  to  lose  your  fleece  than  to 
lose  your  life." 

He  went  upstairs  in  high  spirits,  and  his  mirth  had  a 
genuine  ring. 

"  I  am  saved,"  he  told  Cesarine ;  "  Keller  will  open  a  loan 
account  with  me." 

But  not  until  the  zgih  of  December  could  Birotteau  gain 
admittance  a  second  time  to  Adolphe  Keller's  office.  On  the 
occasion  of  his  first  call,  Adolphe  was  six  leagues  away  from 
Paris,  looking  at  some  property  which  the  great  orator  had  a 
mind  to  buy.  The  next  time  both  the  Kellers  were  closeted 
together,  and  could  see  no  one  that  morning ;  it  was  a  ques- 
tion of  a  tender  for  a  loan  proposed  by  the  Chambers,  and 
they  begged  M.  Birotteau  to  return  on  the  following  Friday. 
These  delays  were  heartbreaking  to  the  perfumer ;  but  Friday 
came  at  last,  and  Birotteau  sat  by  the  fire  in  the  office,  with 
the  daylight  falling  full  on  his  face,  and  Adolphe  Keller, 
sitting  opposite,  was  saying,  as  he  held  up  the  notarial  deeds, 
"  These  are  all  right,  sir ;  but  what  proportion  of  the  pur- 
chase-money have  you  paid  ?  " 

"A  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs." 

"  In  money?" 

"In  bills." 

"  Have  they  been  met? " 

"  They  have  not  fallen  due." 


222  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  But  suppose  that  you  have  given  more  for  the  land  than 
it  is  actually  worth  (taking  it  at  its  present  value),  where  is 
our  guarantee  ?  We  should  have  no  security  but  the  good 
opinion  which  you  inspire  and  the  esteem  in  which  you  are 
held.  Business  is  not  based  on  sentiment.  If  you  had  paid 
two  hundred  thousand  francs,  supposing  that  you  have 
given  too  much  by  a  hundred  thousand  francs  to  get  pos- 
session of  the  land,  we  should  in  that  case  have  at  any  rate 
a  guarantee  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs  for  the  hundred 
thousand  you  want  to  borrow.  The  result  for  us  would 
be  that  we  should  be  owners  of  the  land  in  your  place,  by 
paying  your  share ;  in  that  case  we  must  know  if  it  is  a 
good  piece  of  business.  For  if  we  are  to  wait  five  years  to 
double  our  capital,  it  would  better  to  put  the  money  out  to 
interest  through  the  bank.  So  many  things  may  happen. 
You  want  to  draw  an  accommodation  bill  to  meet  your  bills 
when  they  fall  due  ?  It  is  a  risky  thing  to  do  !  You  go  back 
to  take  a  leap  better.  This  is  not  in  our  way  of  business." 

For  Birotteau,  it  was  as  if  the  executioner  had  touched  his 
shoulder  with  the  branding-iron.  He  lost  his  head. 

"Let  us  see,"  said  Adolphe,  "my  brother  takes  a  warm 
interest  in  you;  he  spoke  of  you  to  me.  Let  us  look  into 
your  affairs,"  he  added,  and  he  glanced  at  the  perfumer  with 
the  expression  of  a  courtesan  pressed  for  a  quarter's  rent. 

Birotteau  became  a  Molineux,  and  acted  the  part  of  the 
man  at  whom  he  had  laughed  so  loftily.  Kept  in  play  by  the 
banker,  who  took  a  pleasure  in  unwinding  the  skein  of  the 
poor  man's  thoughts,  and  showed  himself  as  expert  in  the  art 
of  examining  a  merchant  as  the  elder  Popinot  was  skilled  in 
unloosing  a  criminal's  tongue,  Cesar  told  the  story  of  his 
business  career ;  he  brought  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the 
Toilet  Lotion  upon  the  scene ;  he  gave  a  complete  account  of 
his  dealings  with  Roguin,  and,  finally,  of  the  lawsuit  with 
regard  to  that  mortgage  from  which  he  had  reaped  no  benefit. 
He  saw  Keller's  musing  smile  and  jerk  of  the  head  from  time 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  223 

to  time,  and  said  to  himself,  "He  is  giving  an  ear  to  me! 
He  is  interested;  I  shall  have  my  loan!"  and  Adolphe 
Keller  was  laughing  at  Birotteau,  as  Birotteau  himself  had 
laughed  at  Molineux.  Carried  away  by  the  impulse  of  loqua- 
city peculiar  to  those  people  on  whom  misfortune  has  an 
intoxicating  effect,  Cesar  showed  himself  as  he  really  was;  he 
helped  the  banker  to  take  his  measure  when  he  suggested  as  his 
final  expedient  the  Cephalic  Oil  and  the  firm  of  Popinot  by 
way  of  a  guarantee.  Led  away  by  a  delusive  hope,  he  allowed 
Adolphe  Keller  to  fathom  him  and  examine  into  his  affairs, 
until  Adolphe  Keller  saw  in  the  man  before  him  a  Royalist 
blockhead  on  the  brink  of  bankruptcy.  Then,  delighted  at 
the  prospect  of  this  failure  of  the  deputy-mayor  of  his  arron- 
dissement,  of  a  man  whose  party  was  in  power,  who  had  been 
but  lately  decorated,  Adolphe  told  Birotteau  plainly  that  he 
could  neither  open  a  loan  account  with  him  nor  speak  on  his 
behalf  to  the  orator  brother,  the  great  Francois.  If  Francois 
were  inclined  to  extend  an  imbecile  generosity  to  a  political 
adversary,  and  to  come  to  the  aid  of  a  man  who  held  opinions 
diametrically  opposed  to  his  own,  he,  Adolphe,  had  no  mind 
that  his  brother  should  be  a  dupe  ;  he  would  do  all  that  in 
him  lay  to  prevent  his  brother  from  holding  out  a  helping 
hand  to  one  of  Napoleon's  old  antagonists,  to  a  man  who  was 
wounded  at  Saint-Roch.  Birotteau,  exasperated  at  this,  tried 
to  say  something  about  covetousness  in  the  high-places  of  the 
financial  world,  of  hard-heartedness  and  sham  philanthropy ; 
but  he  was  overcome  with  such  terrible  distress  that  he  could 
scarcely  stammer  out  a  few  words  about  the  institution  of  the 
Bank  of  France,  to  which  the  Kellers  had  recourse. 

"But  the  Bank  of  France  will  never  make  an  advance 
which  a  private  bank  declines,"  said  Adolphe  Keller. 

"It  has  always  seemed  to  me,"  said  Birotteau,  "that  the 
bank  was  not  fulfilling  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  estab- 
lished, when  the  governors  congratulate  themselves  on  a 
balance-sheet  in  which  they  have  only  lost  one  or  two  hun- 


224  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

dred  thousand  francs  in  transactions  with  the  mercantile 
world  of  Paris ;  it  is  the  province  of  the  bank  to  watch  over 
and  foster  trade." 

Adolphe  began  to  smile,  and  rose  to  his  feet  like  a  man 
who  is  bored. 

"  If  the  bank  began  to  finance  all  the  men  in  difficulties 
on  'Change,  where  rascality  congregates  in  the  slipperiest 
places  of  the  financial  world,  the  bank  would  file  her  schedule 
before  a  year  was  out.  The  bank  is  hard  put  to  it  as  it  is  to 
guard  against  accommodation  bills  and  fraudulent  letters  of 
exchange,  and  how  would  it  be  possible  to  examine  into  the 
affairs  of  every  one  who  should  be  minded  to  apply  for  assist- 
ance?" 

"  I  want  ten  thousand  francs  for  to-morrow,  Saturday  the 
3oth ;  and  where  are  they  to  come  from  ?"  Birotteau  asked 
himself,  as  he  crossed  the  court. 

When  the  3ist  is  a  holiday,  payment  is  due  on  the  3oth, 
according  to  custom.  Cesar's  eyes  were  so  full  of  tears  that, 
as  he  reached  the  great  gateway,  he  scarcely  saw  a  handsome 
English  horse,  covered  with  foam,  that  pulled  up  sharply  at 
the  gate,  and  one  of  the  neatest  cabriolets  to  be  seen  in  the 
streets  of  Paris.  He  would  fain  have  been  run  over  by  the 
cabriolet ;  it  would  be  an  accidental  death,  and  the  confusion 
in  his  affairs  would  have  been  set  down  to  the  suddenness  of 
the  catastrophe.  He  did  not  recognize  du  Tillet's  slender 
figure  in  faultless  morning  dress,  or  see  him  fling  the  reins  to 
his  servant  and  put  a  rug  over  the  back  of  the  thoroughbred. 

"What  brings  you  here?"  asked  du  Tillet,  addressing  his 
old  master. 

Du  Tillet  knew  quite  well  why  Birotteau  had  come.  The 
Kellers  had  made  inquiries  of  Claparon,  and  Claparon,  taking 
his  cue  from  du  Tillet,  had  blighted  the  perfumer's  old- 
established  business  reputation.  The  tears  in  the  unlucky 
merchant's  eyes  told  the  tale  sufficiently  plain,  in  spite  of 
his  sudden  effort  to  keep  them  back. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  225 

"  Perhaps  you  have  been  asking  these  Turks  to  oblige  you 
in  some  way,"  said  du  Tillet,  "cut-throats  of  commerce  that 
they  are,  who  have  played  many  a  mean  trick ;  they  will 
make  a  corner  in  indigo,  for  instance ;  they  lower  rice,  for- 
cing holders  to  sell  cheap,  so  that  they  can  get  the  game  into 
their  own  hands  and  control  the  market ;  they  are  inhuman 
pirates,  who  know  neither  law,  nor  faith,  nor  conscience. 
You  cannot  know  what  things  they  are  capable  of  doing. 
They  will  open  a  loan  account  with  you  if  you  have  some 
promising  bit  of  business  ;  and,  as  soon  as  you  have  gone  too 
far  to  draw  back,  they  will  pull  you  up  and  put  pressure  upon 
you  till  you  make  the  whole  affair  over  to  them  for  next  to  noth- 
ing. Pretty  stories  they  could  tell  you  at  Havre  and  Bordeaux 
and  Marseilles  about  the  Kellers !  Politics  are  a  cloak  that 
covers  a  lot  of  dirty  doings,  I  can  tell  you  !  So  I  make  them 
useful  without  scruple.  Let  us  take  a  turn  or  two,  my  dear 
Birotteau.  Joseph,  walk  the  horse  up  and  down,  he  is  over- 
heated, and  a  thousand  crowns  is  a  big  investment  in  horse- 
flesh." 

He  turned  toward  the  boulevard. 

"  Now,  my  dear  master  (for  you  used  to  be  my  master),  is 
it  money  that  you  need  ?  And  they  have  asked  you  for  secu- 
rity, the  wretches !  Well,  for  my  own  part,  I  know  you  ;  and 
I  can  offer  to  give  you  cash  against  your  bills.  I  have  made 
my  money  honorably  and  with  unheard-of  toil.  I  went  in 
quest  of  fortune  to  Germany  !  At  this  time  of  day,  I  may  tell 
you  this — that  I  bought  up  the  King's  debts  there  for  forty 
per  cent,  of  their  value  ;  your  guarantee  was  very  useful  to  me 
then,  and  I  am  grateful.  If  you  want  ten  thousand  francs, 
they  are  at  your  service." 

"  What !  du  Tillet,"  cried  C6sar,  "  do  you  really  mean  it? 
Are  you  not  making  game  of  me  ?  Yes,  I  am  a  little  pressed 
for  money,  just  for  the  moment " 

"  I  know  ;  Roguin's  affair,"  returned  du  Tillet.    "Eh!  yes. 
I  myself  have  been  let  in  there  for  ten  thousand  francs,  which 
15 


226  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

the  old  rogue  borrowed  of  me  to  run  away  with  ;  but  Madame 
Roguin  will  repay  the  money  out  of  her  claims  on  his  estate. 
I  advised  her,  poor  thing,  not  to  be  so  foolish  as  to  give  up 
her  fortune  to  pay  debts  contracted  for  a  mistress ;  it  would  be 
very  well  if  she  could  pay  them  all,  but  how  is  she  to  make 
distinctions  in  favor  of  this  or  that  creditor  to  the  prejudice 
of  others?  You  are  no  Roguin  ;  I  know  you,"  continued  du 
Tillet ;  "you  would  rather  blow  your  brains  out  than  cause 
me  to  lose  a  sou.  Here  we  are  in  the  Rue  de  la  Chaussee- 
d'Antin  ;  come  up  and  see  me." 

It  pleased  the  young  upstart  to  take  his  old  employer,  not 
through  the  offices,  but  by  way  of  the  private  entry,  and  to  walk 
deliberately,  so  as  to  give  him  a  full  view  of  a  handsome  and 
luxuriously  furnished  dining-room,  adorned  with  pictures 
bought  in  Germany  ;  through  two  drawing-rooms,  more  splen- 
did and  elegant  than  any  rooms  that  Birotteau  had  yet  seen 
save  in  the  Due  de  Lenoncourt's  house.  The  good  citizen 
was  dazzled  by  the  gilding,  the  works  of  art,  the  costly  knick- 
knacks,  precious  vases,  and  countless  little  details.  All  the 
glories  of  Constance's  rooms  paled  before  this  display ;  and 
knowing,  as  he  did,  the  cost  of  his  own  extravagance — 
"  Where  can  he  have  found  all  these  millions?  "  said  he  to 
himself. 

Then  they  entered  a  bedroom,  which  as  much  surpassed  his 
wife's  as  the  mansion  of  a  great  singer  at  the  opera  surpasses 
the  third-floor  dwelling  of  some  supernumerary.  The  ceiling 
was  covered  with  violet  satin  relieved  with  silken  folds  of  white, 
and  the  white  fur  of  an  ermine  rug  beside  the  bed  brought  out 
in  contrast  all  the  violet  tints  of  a  carpet  from  the  Levant. 
The  furniture  and  the  accessories  were  novel  in  form,  and 
exhibited  the  very  refinement  of  extravagance.  Birotteau 
stopped  in  front  of  an  exquisite  timepiece,  with  a  Cupid  and 
Psyche  upon  it,  a  replica  of  one  which  had  just  been  made 
for  a  celebrated  banker.  At  length  master  and  assistant 
reached  a  cabinet,  the  dainty  sanctum  of  a  fashionable  dandy, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  227 

redolent  rather  of  love  than  of  finance.  It  was  Mme.  Roguin, 
doubtless,  who,  in  hci  gratitude  for  the  care  and  thought  given 
to  her  fortune,  had  bestowed,  Dy  Wct7  of  ^  thank-offering,  the 
paper-cutter  of  wrought  gold,  the  carved  malacuu^  ^aoer- 
weights,  and  all  the  costly  gewgaws  of  unbridled  luxury.  The 
carpet,  one  of  the  richest  products  of  the  Belgian  loom,  was 
as  great  a  surprise  to  the  eyes  as  its  soft,  thick  pile  to  the  tread. 
Du  Tillet  drew  a  chair  to  the  fire  for  the  poor  dazzled  and  be- 
wildered perfumer. 

"  Will  you  breakfast  with  me  ?  "  He  rang  the  bell ;  it  was 
answered  by  a  servant,  who  was  better  dressed  than  the  visitor. 

"Ask  Monsieur  Legras  to  come  up  and  then  tell  Joseph  to 
return,  you  will  find  him  at  the  door  of  Keller's  bank  ;  and 
you  can  go  to  Adolphe  Keller's  house  and  say  that,  instead 
of  seeing  him  now,  I  shall  wait  till  he  goes  on  'Change. 
Send  up  breakfast,  and  be  quick  about  it." 

This  talk  dazed  the  perfumer. 

"  So  he,  du  Tillet,  makes  that  formidable  Adolphe  Keller 
come  to  him  at  his  whistle,  as  if  he  were  a  dog  !  " 

A  hop-o'-my-thumb  of  a  page  came  in  and  spread  a  table 
so  slender  that  it  had  escaped  Birotteau's  notice,  setting 
thereon  a  Strasbourg  pie,  a  bottle  of  Bordeaux  wine,  and 
various  luxuries  which  did  not  appear  on  Birotteau's  table 
twice  in  a  quarter,  on  high-days  and  holidays.  Du  Tillet 
was  enjoying  himself.  His  feeling  of  hatred  for  the  one  man 
who  had  a  right  to  despise  him  diffused  itself  like  a  warm 
glow  through  his  veins,  till  the  sight  of  Birotteau  stirred  in 
the  depths  of  his  nature  the  same  sensations  that  the  spectacle 
of  a  sheep  struggling  for  its  life  against  a  tiger  might  give. 
A  generous  thought  flashed  across  him  ;  he  asked  himself 
whether  he  had  not  carried  his  vengeance  far  enough  ;  he 
hesitated  between  the  counsels  of  a  newly  awakened  pity  and 
those  of  a  hate  grown  drowsy. 

"  Commercially  speaking,  I  can  annihilate  the  man,"  he 
thought ;  "  I  have  power  of  life  and  death  over  him,  over  his 


228  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

wife,  who  kept  me  on  the  rack,  and  his  daughter,  whose  hand 
once  seemed  to  me  to  grasp  *  wftole  fortune'.  I  have  his 
money  as  it  '*>  -°  iet  us  ^e  content  to  let  tne  poor  simpleton 
...mi  to  the  end  of  his  tether,  which  I  shall  hold." 

But  honest  folk  are  wanting  in  tact ;  they  do  what  seems 
good  to  them  without  calculating  its  effect  on  others,  because 
they  themselves  are  straightforward,  and  have  no  after- 
thoughts. So  Birotteau  filled  up  the  measure  of  his  own  mis- 
fortune ;  he  irritated  the  tiger;  all  unwittingly  he  sent  a  shaft 
home,  and  made  an  implacable  enemy  of  him  at  a  word,  by 
his  praise,  by  giving  expression  to  his  honest  thoughts,  by  the 
sheer  light-heartedness  which  is  the  gift  of  a  blameless  con- 
science. The  cashier  came  in  ;  and  du  Tillet  said,  looking 
toward  Cesar,  "  Monsieur  Legras,  bring  me  ten  thousand 
francs  in  cash,  and  a  bill  for  the  amount  payable  to  my  order 
in  ninety  days  by  this  gentleman,  who  is  Monsieur  Birotteau, 
as  you  know." 

Du  Tillet  waited  on  his  guest,  and  poured  out  a  glass  of 
Bordeaux  wine  for  him  ;  and  Birotteau,  who  thought  himself 
saved,  laughed  convulsively,  fingered  his  watch-chain,  and 
did  not  touch  the  food  until  his  ex-assistant  said,  "  You  do 
not  eat."  In  this  way  he  laid  bare  the  depths  of  the  gulf 
into  which  du  Tillet's  hand  had  plunged  him,  while  the  hand 
which  had  drawn  him  out  was  still  stretched  over  him,  and 
might  yet  plunge  him  back  again.  When  the  cashier  re- 
turned, and  the  bill  had  been  accepted,  and  Cesar  felt  the  ten 
bank-notes  in  his  pocket,  he  could  no  longer  contain  his  joy. 
But  a  moment  ago  the  news  that  he  could  not  meet  his  en- 
gagements seemed  about  to  be  published  abroad  through  his 
quarter,  the  bank  must  know  it,  he  must  confess  that  he  was 
ruined  to  his  wife;  now  everything  was  safe!  The  joy  of 
his  deliverance  was  as  keen  as  the  torture  of  impending  bank- 
ruptcy had  been.  Tears  filled  the  poor  man's  eyes  in  spite 
of  himself. 

"What  can  be  the  matter,  my  dear  master?"   asked  du 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  229 

Tillet.  "Would  you  not  do  to-morrow  for  me  what  I  am 
doing  to-day  for  you?  Isn't  it  as  simple  as  saying  good- 
day?" 

"  Du  Tillet,"  said  the  worthy  man,  with  solemn  emphasis, 
as  he  rose  and  took  his  ex-assistant  by  the  hand,  "  I  restore 
you  to  your  old  place  in  my  esteem." 

"  What !  had  I  forfeited  it  ?  "  asked  du  Tillet ;  and,  for  all 
his  prosperity,  he  felt  this  rude  home-thrust,  and  his  color 
rose. 

"  Forfeited not  exactly  that,"  said  Birotteau,  thunder- 
struck by  his  folly ;  "  people  talked  about  you  and  Madame 
Roguin.  The  devil !  another  man's  wife " 

"You  are  beating  about  the  bush,  old  boy,"  thought  du 
Tillet,  in  an  old  phrase  learned  in  his  earlier  days. 

And  even  as  that  thought  crossed  his  mind,  he  returned  to 
his  old  design.  He  would  lay  this  virtue  low,  he  would 
trample  it  under  foot ;  all  Paris  should  point  the  finger  of 
scorn  at  the  honest  and  honorable  man  who  had  caught  him, 
du  Tillet,  with  his  hand  in  the  till.  Every  hatred  of  every 
kind,  political  or  private,  between  woman  and  woman,  or  be- 
tween man  and  man,  dates  from  some  similar  detection.  There 
is  no  cause  for  hate  in  compromised  interests,  in  a  wound,  nor 
even  in  a  box  on  the  ear ;  such  injuries  as  these  are  not  irre- 
parable. But  to  be  found  out  in  some  base  piece  of  iniquity, 

to  be  caught  in  the  act  ! The  duel  that  ensues  between 

the  criminal  and  the  discoverer  of  the  crime  cannot  but  be  to 
the  death. 

"Oh  !  Madame  Roguin,"  said  du  Tillet  laughingly,  "but 
isn't  that  rather  a  feather  in  a  young  man's  cap?  I  under- 
stand you,  my  dear  master,  they  must  have  told  you  that  he 
lent  me  money.  Well,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  I  who  have  re- 
established her  finances,  which  were  curiously  involved  in  her 
husband's  affairs.  My  fortune  has  been  honestly  made,  as  I 
have  just  told  you.  I  had  nothing,  as  you  know.  Young 
.men  sometimes  find  themselves  in  terrible  straits,  and  in  dire 


230  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

need  one  may  strain  a  point ;  but  if,  like  the  Republic,  one 
has  made  a  forced  loan  now  and  again,  why,  one  returns  it 
afterward,  and  is  as  honest  as  France  herself." 

"  Just  so,"  said  C6sar.  "  My  boy — God — Isn't  it  Voltaire 
who  says — 

"  '  He  made  of  repentance  the  virtue  of  mortals  ?  '  " 

"So  long  as  one  does  not  take  his  neighbor's  money  in  a 
base  and  cowardly  way,"  du  Tillet  continued,  smarting  once 
more  under  this  application  of  verse ;  "  as  if  you,  for  instance, 
were  to  fail  before  the  three  months  are  out,  and  it  would 
be  all  up  with  my  ten  thousand  francs " 

"I  fail?"  cried  Birotteau  (he  had  taken  three  glasses  of 
wine,  and  happiness  had  gone  to  his  head).  "  My  opinions 
of  bankruptcy  are  well  known.  A  failure  is  commercial 
death.  I  should  die." 

"  Long  life  to  you  !  "  said  du  Tillet. 

"  To  your  prosperity  !  "  returned  the  perfumer.  "  Why  do 
you  not  come  to  me  for  your  perfumery  ?  " 

"  Upon  my  word,"  said  du  Tillet,  "  I  confess  that  I  am 
afraid  to  meet  Madame  Cesar,  she  always  made  an  impression 
upon  me  ;  and  if  you  were  not  my  master,  faith,  I " 

"  Oh  !  you  are  not  the  first  who  has  thought  her  handsome, 
and  wanted  her,  but  she  loves  me !  Well,  du  Tillet,  my 
friend,  do  not  do  things  by  halves  !  " 

"What?" 

Birotteau  explained  the  affair  of  the  building  land,  and  du 
Tillet  opened  his  eyes,  complimented  C6sar  upon  his  acumen 
and  foresight,  and  spoke  highly  of  the  prospects. 

"  Oh,  well,  I  am  much  pleased  to  have  your  approbation  ; 
you  are  supposed  to  have  one  of  the  longest  heads  in  the  bank- 
ing line,  du  Tillet !  You  can  negotiate  a  loan  from  the  Bank 
of  France  for  me  until  the  Cephalic  Oil  has  made  its  way." 

"I  can  send  you  to  the  firm  of  Nucingen,"  answered  du 
Tillet,  inwardly  vowing  that  his  victim  should  dance  the  whole 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  231 

mazy  round  of  bankruptcy.     He  sat  down  to  his  desk  to  write 
the  following  letter  to  the  Baron  de  Nucingen : 

"  MY  DEAR  BARON  : — The  bearer  of  this  letter  is  M.  Cesar 
Birotteau,  deputy-mayor  of  the  second  arrondissement,  and 
one  of  the  best  known  manufacturing  perfumers  in  Paris.  He 
desires  to  be  put  in  communication  with  you ;  you  need  not 
hesitate  to  do  anything  that  he  asks  of  you,  and  by  obliging 
him  you  oblige  your  friend, 

"F.    DU   TlLLET." 

Du  Tillet  put  no  dot  over  the  *  in  his  name.  Among  his 
business  associates  this  clerical  error  was  a  sign  which  they  all 
understood,  and  it  was  always  made  of  set  purpose;  it  an- 
nulled the  heartiest  recommendations,  the  warmest  praise  and 
instance  in  the  body  of  the  letter.  On  receiving  such  a  note 
as  this,  where  the  very  exclamation-marks  breathed  entreaty, 
in  which  du  Tillet,  figuratively  speaking,  went  down  on  his 
knees,  his  associates  knew  that  the  writer  had  been  unable  to 
refuse  the  letter  which  was  to  be  regarded  as  null  and  void. 
At  sight  of  that  undotted  /,  the  receiver  of  the  letter  forth- 
with dismissed  the  applicant  with  empty  compliments  and 
vain  promises.  Not  a  few  men  of  considerable  reputation  in 
the  world  are  put  off  like  children  by  this  trick ;  for  men  of 
business,  bankers,  bill-discounters,  and  advocates  have  one 
and  all  two  methods  of  signing  their  names ;  one  is  a  dead 
letter,  the  other  living.  The  shrewdest  are  deceived  by  it. 
You  must  have  felt  the  double  effect  of  a  cold  communication 
and  a  warm  one  to  discover  the  stratagem. 

"You  are  saving  me,  du  Tillet,"  said  Cesar,  as  he  read  the 
present  specimen. 

"  Oh  dear  me,"  said  du  Tillet,  "just  ask  Nucingen  for  the 
money,  and  when  he  has  read  my  letter  he  will  let  you  have 
all  that  you  want.  Unluckily,  my  own  capital  is  locked  up 
at  present,  or  I  would  not  send  you  to  the  prince  of  bankers, 


232  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

for  the  Kellers  are  dwarfs  compared  with  Nucingen.  He  is  a 
second  Law.  With  my  bill  of  exchange,  you  will  be  ready 
for  the  1 5th,  and  after  that  we  will  see.  Nucingen  and  I  are 
the  best  friends  in  the  world ;  he  would  not  disoblige  me  for 
a  million." 

"It  is  as  good  as  a  guarantee,"  said  Birotteau  to  himself, 
and  as  he  went  away  his  heart  thrilled  with  gratitude  for  du 
Tillet.  "Ah,  well,"  he  thought,  "a  good  deed  never  loses 
its  reward,"  and  he  fell  incontinently  to  moralizing.  Yet 
there  was  one  bitter  drop  in  his  cup  of  happiness.  He  had, 
it  is  true,  prevented  his  wife  from  looking  into  the  ledgers  for 
several  days.  Celestin  must  undertake  the  book-keeping  in 
addition  to  his  work,  with  some  help  from  his  master;  he 
could  have  wished  his  wife  and  daughter  to  remain  upstairs  in 
possession  of  the  beautiful  rooms  which  he  had  arranged  and 
furnished  for  them ;  but  when  the  first  little  glow  of  enjoy- 
ment was  over,  Mme.  C6sar  would  have  died  sooner  than  re- 
nounce the  personal  supervision  of  the  details  of  the  business, 
"the  handle  of  the  frying-pan,"  to  use  her  own  Tourangeau 
expression. 

Birotteau  was  at  his  wits'  end  ;  he  had  done  everything  that 
he  could  think  of  to  conceal  the  symptoms  of  his  embarrass- 
ment from  her  eyes.  Constance  had  strongly  disapproved  of 
sending  in  the  accounts ;  she  had  scolded  the  assistants,  and 
asked  Celestin  if  he  meant  to  ruin  the  house,  believing  that 
the  idea  was  Celestin's  own.  And  Celestin  meekly  bore  the 
blame  by  Birotteau's  orders.  In  the  assistant's  opinion,  Mme. 
Cesar  governed  the  perfumer;  and,  though  it  is  possible  to 
deceive  the  public,  those  of  the  household  always  know  who 
is  the  real  power  in  it.  The  confession  was  bound  to  come, 
and  that  soon,  for  du  Tillet's  loan  would  appear  in  the  books, 
and  must  be  accounted  for. 

As  Birotteau  came  in  at  the  door  he  saw,  not  without  a 
shudder,  that  Constance  was  at  her  post,  going  through  the 
amounts  due  to  be  paid,  and  doubtless  balancing  the  books. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  233 

"  How  will  you  pay  these  to-morrow?"  she  asked  in  his 
ear,  when  he  took  his  place  beside  her. 

"With  money,"  he  replied,  drawing  the  bank-notes  from 
his  pocket,  with  a  sign  to  Celestin  to  take  them. 

"  But  where  do  those  notes  come  from  ?  " 

"I  will  tell  you  the  whole  story  to-night.  Celestin,  enter 
in  the  bill-book  a  bill  for  ten  thousand  francs  due  at  the  end 
of  March,  to  order  of  du  Tillet." 

"  Du  Tillet !  "  echoed  Constance,  terror-stricken. 

"I  am  just  going  to  Popinot,"  said  Cesar.  "It  is  too 
bad  of  me  ;  I  have  not  been  round  to  see  him  yet.  Is  his  oil 
selling?" 

"  The  three  hundred  bottles  which  he  brought  are  all  sold 
out." 

"  Birotteau,  do  not  go  out  again  ;  I  have  something  to  say 
to  you,"  said  Constance.  She  caught  her  husband's  arm, 
and  drew  him  to  her  room  in  a  hurry,  which,  under  any 
other  circumstances,  would  have  been  ludicrous.  "  Du  Til- 
let!"  she  exclaimed,  when  the  husband  and  wife  were  to- 
gether, and  she  had  made  sure  that  there  was  no  one  but 
Cesarine  present ;  "  Du  Tillet  robbed  us  of  three  thousand 
francs  !  And  you  are  doing  business  with  du  Tillet !  A 
monster  who — who  tried  to  seduce  me,"  she  said  in  his  ear. 

"A  bit  of  boyish  folly,"  said  Birotteau,  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  a  freethinker. 

"  Listen  to  me,  Birotteau  ;  you  are  falling  out  of  your  old 
ways ;  you  never  go  to  the  factory  now.  There  is  something, 
I  can  feel  it.  Tell  me  about  it ;  I  want  to  know  everything." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Birotteau,  "we  have  nearly  been  ruined  ; 
we  were  ruined,  in  fact,  this  very  morning,  but  everything  is 
set  straight  again,"  and  he  told  the  dreadful  story  of  the  past 
two  weeks. 

"  So  that  was  the  cause  of  your  illness  !  "  exclaimed  Con- 
stance. 

"Yes,  mamma,"  cried  Cesarine.     "Father  has  been  very 


234  CESAR   &IROTTEAU. 

brave,  I  am  sure.  If  I  were  loved  as  he  loves  you,  I  would 
not  wish  more.  He  thought  of  nothing  but  your  trouble." 

"  My  dream  has  come  true,"  said  the  poor  wife,  and  pale, 
haggard,  and  terror-stricken,  she  sank  down  upon  the  sofa  by 
the  fireside.  "I  foresaw  all  this.  I  told  you  so  that  fatal 
night,  in  the  old  room  which  you  have  pulled  down ;  we  shall 
have  nothing  left  but  our  eyes  to  cry  over  our  losses.  Poor 
Cesarine,  I " 

"  Come,  now ;  so  that  is  what  you  say  !  "  cried  Birotteau. 
"  I  stand  in  need  of  courage,  and  you  are  damping  it !  " 

"Forgive  me,  dear,"  said  Constance,  grasping  Cesar's 
hand  in  hers,  with  a  tender  pressure  that  went  to  the  poor 
man's  heart.  "I  was  wrong;  the  misfortune  has  befallen  us, 
I  will  be  dumb,  resigned,  and  strong  to  bear  it.  No,  Cesar, 
you  shall  never  hear  a  complaint  from  me." 

She  sprang  into  Cesar's  arms,  and  said,  while  her  tears  fell 
fast,  "Take  courage,  dear.  I  should  have  courage  enough 
for  two,  if  it  were  needed." 

" There  is  the  Oil,  dear  wife;  the  Oil  will  save  us." 

"May  God  protect  us !  "  cried  Constance. 

"Will  not  Anselme  come  to  father's  assistance?"  asked 
Cesarine. 

"  I  will  go  to  him  now,"  exclaimed  Cesar.  His  wife's  heart- 
breaking tone  had  been  too  much  for  his  feelings ;  it  seemed 
that  he  did  not  know  her  yet,  after  nineteen  years  of  married 
life.  "Do  not  be  afraid,  Constance;  there  is  no  fear  now. 
Here,  read  Monsieur  du  Tillet's  letter  to  Monsieur  de  Nu- 
cingen  ;  he  is  sure  to  lend  us  the  money.  Between  then  and 
now  I  shall  have  gained  my  lawsuit.  Beside,"  he  added  (a 
lying  hope  to  fit  the  circumstances),  "  there  is  your  Uncle 
Pillerault.  Courage  is  all  that  is  wanted." 

"If  that  were  all?"  said  Constance,  smiling. 

Birotteau,  with  the  great  weight  taken  off  his  mind,  walked 
like  a  man  set  free  from  prison ;  but  within  himself  he  felt  the 
indefinable  exhaustion  consequent  on  mental  exertion  which 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  235 

had  made  heavy  demands  upon  his  nervous  system  and  re- 
quired more  than  the  daily  allowance  of  will-power  ;  he  was 
conscious  of  the  deficit  when  a  man  has  drawn,  as  it  were, 
on  the  capital  of  his  vitality.  Birotteau  was  growing  old 
already. 

Popinot's  store  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  had  under- 
gone great  changes  in  the  last  two  months.  It  had  been  re- 
painted. The  rows  of  bottles  ensconced  in  the  pigeon-hole 
shelves,  touched  up  with  paint,  rejoiced  the  eyes  of  every  mer- 
chant who  knows  the  signs  of  prosperity.  The  floor  of  the 
store  was  covered  with  packing-paper.  The  warehouse  con- 
tained certain  casks  of  oil,  for  which  the  devoted  Gaudissart 
had  procured  an  agency  for  Popinot.  The  books  were  kept 
upstairs  in  the  counting-room.  An  old  servant  had  been  in- 
stalled as  housekeeper  to  Popinot  and  his  three  assistants. 

Popinot  himself,  penned  in  a  cash  desk  in  the  corner  of  the 
store  screened  off  by  a  green  partition,. was  usually  arrayed  in 
a  green  baize  apron  and  a  pair  of  green-cloth  oversleeves, 
when  he  was  not  buried,  as  at  this  moment,  in  a  pile  of  papers. 
The  post  had  just  come  in,  and  Popinot,  with  a  pen  behind 
his  ear,  was  taking  in  handfuls  of  business  letters  and  orders, 
when  at  the  words,  "Well,  my  boy?"  he  raised  his  head, 
saw  his  late  employer,  locked  his  cash  desk,  and  came  for- 
ward joyously.  The  tip  of  the  young  man's  nose  was  red, 
for  there  was  no  fire  in  the  store  and  the  street-door  stood 
wide  open. 

"I  began  to  fear  that  you  were  never  coming  to  see  me," 
he  answered  respectfully. 

The  assistants  hurried  in,  eager  to  see  the  great  man  of  the 
perfumery  trade,  their  own  master's  partner,  the  deputy-mayor 
who  wore  the  red  ribbon.  Cesar  was  flattered  by  this  mute 
homage,  and  he  who  had  felt  so  small  in  the  Kellers'  bank 
must  needs  imitate  the  Kellers.  He  stroked  his  chin,  raised 
himself  on  tiptoe  once  or  twice  with  an  air,  and  poured  forth 
his  commonplaces. 


236  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Well,  my  dear  fellow,  are  you  always  up  early  in  the  morn- 
ings?" asked  he. 

"No,  we  don't  always  go  to  bed,"  said  Popinot;  "one 
must  succeed  by  hook  or  by  crook." 

"  Well,  what  did  I  tell  you?     My  Oil  is  a  fortune." 

"  Yes,  sir,  but  the  method  of  selling  it  counts  for  something; 
I  have  given  your  diamond  a  worthy  setting." 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,"  said  the  perfumer,  "how  are  we 
getting  on  ?  Have  any  profits  been  made  ? ' ' 

"At  the  end  of  a  month  !  "  cried  Popinot.  "  Did  you  ex- 
pect it  ?  My  friend  Gaudissart  has  not  been  gone  much  more 
than  three  weeks.  He  took  a  post-chaise  without  telling  me 
about  it.  Oh  !  he  has  thrown  himself  into  this.  We  shall  owe  a 
good  deal  to  my  uncle  !  The  newspapers  will  cost  us  twelve 
thousand  francs,"  he  added  in  Birotteau's  ear. 

"  The  newspapers  !  "  cried  the  deputy-mayor. 

"  Have  you  not  seen  them  ?  " 

"No." 

"  Then  you  know  nothing  of  this,"  said  Popinot.  "  Twenty 
thousand  francs  in  placards,  frames,  and  prints  !  A  hundred 
thousand  bottles  paid  for  !  Oh  !  it  is  nothing  but  sacrifice  at 
this  moment.  We  are  bringing  out  the  Oil  on  a  large  scale. 
If  you  had  stepped  over  to  the  Faubourg,  where  I  have  often 
been  at  work  all  night,  you  would  have  seen  a  little  con- 
trivance of  mine  for  cracking  the  nuts,  which  is  not  to  be 
sneezed  at.  For  my  own  part,  during  the  last  five  days  I 
have  made  three  thousand  francs  in  commission  on  the  drug- 
gists' oils." 

"What  a  good  head  !  "  said  Birotteau,  laying  his  hand  on 
little  Popinot's  hair,  and  stroking  it  as  if  the  young  man  had 
been  a  little  child,  "  I  foresaw  how  it  would  be." 

Several  people  came  into  the  store. 

"  Good-by  till  Sunday;  we  are  going  to  dine  then  with 
your  aunt,  Madame  Ragon,"  said  Birotteau,  and  he  left 
Popinot  to  his  own  affairs.  Evidently  the  roast  which  he  had 


C&SAR  B1ROTTEAU.  237 

scented  was  not  yet  ready  to  carve.  "  How  extraordinary  it 
is  !  An  assistant  becomes  a  merchant  in  twenty-four  hours,"  he 
thought,  and  Birotteau  was  as  much  taken  aback  by  Popinot's 
prosperity  and  self-possession  as  by  du  Tillet's  luxurious  rooms. 
"  Here  is  Anselme  drawing  himself  up  a  bit  when  I  put  my 
hand  on  his  head,  as  if  he  were  a  Francois  Keller  already." 

It  did  not  occur  to  Birotteau  that  the  assistants  were  look- 
ing on,  and  that  the  head  of  an  establishment  must  preserve 
his  dignity  in  his  own  house.  Here,  as  in  du  Tillet's  case,  the 
good  man  had  made  a  blunder  in  the  kindness  of  his  heart, 
and  the  real  feeling  expressed  in  that  homely  familiar  way 
would  have  mortified  any  one  but  Anselme. 

The  Sunday  dinner-party  at  the  Ragons'  house  was  destined 
to  be  the  last  festivity  in  the  nineteen  years  of  Cesar's  married 
life,  the  life  which  had  been  so  completely  happy.  The 
Ragons  lived  on  the  third  floor  of  a  quaint  and  rather  stately 
old  house  in  the  Rue  du  Petit-Bourbon-Saint-Sulpice.  Over 
the  paneled  walls  of  their  rooms  danced  eighteen-century 
shepherdesses  in  hooped  petticoats,  amid  browsing  eighteen- 
century  sheep ;  and  the  old  people  themselves  belonged  to 
the  bourgeoisie  of  that  bygone  century,  with  its  solemn 
gravity,  its  quaint  habits  and  customs,  its  respectful  attitude 
to  the  noblesse,  its  loyal  devotion  to  church  and  King. 

The  timepieces,  the  linen,  the  plates  and  dishes,  all  the  fur- 
niture, in  fact,  had  such  an  old-world  air,  that  by  very  rea- 
son of  its  antiquity  it  seemed  new.  The  sitting-room,  hung 
with  brocatelle  damask  curtains,  contained  a  collection  of 
"  duchesse "  chairs  and  whatnots;  and  from  the  wall  a 
superb  Popinot,  Mme.  Ragon's  father,  the  alderman  of  San- 
cerre,  painted  by  Latour,  smiled  down  upon  the  room  like  a 
parvenu  in  all  his  glory.  Mme.  Ragon  at  home  was  incom- 
plete without  her  tiny  King  Charles,  who  reposed  with  mar- 
velous effect  on  her  hard  little  rococo  sofa,  a  piece  of  furni- 
ture which  certainly  had  never  played  the  part  of  Crebillon's 
sofa. 


238  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Among  the  Ragons'  many  virtues,  the  possession  of  old 
wines  arrived  at  perfect  maturity  was  by  no  means  the  least 
endearing ;  to  say  nothing  of  certain  liqueurs  of  Mme. 
Anfoux's,  brought  from  the  West  Indies  by  the  lovely  Mme. 
Ragon's  admirers,  sufficiently  dogged  to  love  on  without 
hope  (so  it  was  said).  Wherefore  the  Ragons'  little  dinners 
were  highly  appreciated.  Jeannette,  the  old  cook,  served  the 
two  old  folk  with  a  blind  devotion  ;  for  them  she  would  have 
stolen  fruit  to  make  preserves  ;  and,  so  far  from  investing  her 
money  in  the  savings  bank,  she  prudently  put  it  in  the  lottery, 
hoping  one  day  to  carry  home  the  great  prize  to  her  master 
and  mistress.  In  spite  of  her  sixty  years,  Jeannette,  on 
Sundays  when  they  had  company,  superintended  the  dishes  in 
the  kitchen  and  waited  at  table  with  a  deft  quickness  which 
would  have  given  hints  to  Mile.  Contat  as  Suzanne  in  the 
"Marriage  of  Figaro." 

This  time  the  guests  were  ten  in  number — the  elder  Popinot, 
Uncle  Pillerault,  Anselme,  Cesar  and  his  wife  and  daughter, 
the  three  Matifats,  and  the  Abbe  Loraux.  Mme.  Matifat,  first 
introduced  arrayed  for  the  dance  in  her  turban,  now  wore  a 
gown  of  blue  velvet,  thick  cotton  stockings,  kid  slippers, 
green-fringed  chamois-leather  gloves,  and  a  hat  lined  with 
pink  and  adorned  with  blossoming  auriculas. 

Every  one  had  arrived  by  five  o'clock.  The  Ragons  used 
to  beg  their  guests  to  be  punctual ;  and  when  the  good  folk 
themselves  were  asked  out  to  dinner,  their  friends  were  careful 
to  dine  at  the  same  hour,  for  at  the  age  of  seventy  the  diges- 
tion does  not  take  kindly  to  the  new-fangled  times  and  seasons 
ordained  by  fashionable  society. 

Cesarine  knew  that  Mme.  Ragon  would  seat  Anselme  beside 
her  ;  all  women,  even  devotees,  or  the  feeblest  feminine  in- 
tellects, understand  each  other  in  the  matter  of  a  love  affair. 
The  toilet  of  the  perfumer's  daughter  was  designed  to  turn 
young  Popinot's  head.  Constance,  who  had  given  up,  not 
without  a  pang,  the  idea  of  the  notary,  who  for  her  was  an 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  239 

heir-presumptive  to  a  throne,  had  helped  Cesarine  to  dress, 
certain  bitter  reflections  mingling  with  her  thoughts  the  while. 
Foreseeing  the  future,  she  lowered  the  modest  gauze  kerchief 
somewhat  on  Cesarine's  shoulders,  so  as  to  display  rather 
more  of  their  outline,  as  well  as  the  throat  on  which  the  young 
girl's  head  was  set  with  striking  grace.  The  Grecian  bodice, 
four  or  five  folds  crossing  from  left  to  right,  gave  short 
glimpses  of  delicately  rounded  contours  beneath ;  and  the 
leaden-gray  merino  gown,  with  its  flounces  trimmed  with 
green  ornaments,  clearly  defined  a  shape  which  had  never 
seemed  so  slender  and  so  lissome.  Gold  filigree  earrings  hung 
from  her  ears.  Her  hair,  dressed  high  in  Chinese  style,  was 
drawn  back  from  her  face,  so  that  the  delicate  freshness  of  its 
surface  and  the  dim  tracery  of  the  veins  which  suffused  the 
white  velvet  with  the  purest  glow  of  life  were  apparent  at  a 
glance.  Indeed,  Cesarine  was  so  coquettishly  lovely  that 
Mme.  Matifat  could  not  help  saying  so,  without  perceiving 
that  the  mother  and  daughter  had  felt  the  necessity  of  be- 
witching young  Popinot. 

Neither  Birotteau,  nor  his  wife,  nor  Mme.  Matifat,  nor  any 
one  else,  broke  in  upon  the  delicious  talk  between  the  two 
young  people ;  love  glowed  within  them  as  they  spoke  with 
lowered  voices  in  the  draughty  window-seat,  where  the  cold 
made  a  miniature  northeaster.  Moreover,  the  conversation 
of  their  seniors  grew  animated  when  the  elder  Popinot  let 
something  drop  concerning  Roguin's  flight,  saying  that  this 
was  the  second  notary-defaulter,  and  that  hitherto  such  a 
thing  had  been  unknown.  Mme.  Ragon  had  touched  her 
brother's  foot  at  the  mention  of  Roguin,  Pillerault  had  spoken 
aloud  to  cover  the  judge's  remark,  and  both  looked  signifi- 
cantly from  him  to  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"  I  know  all,"  Constance  said,  and  in  her  gentle  voice  there 
was  a  note  of  pain. 

"  Oh,  well  then,"  said  Mme.  Matifat,  addressing  herself  to 
Birotteau,  who  humbly  bent  his  head,  "how  much  of  your 


240  C£SAK  BIROTTEAU. 

money  did  he  run  away  with  ?  To  listen  to  the  gossip,  you 
might  be  ruined." 

"  He  had  two  hundred  thousand  francs  of  mine.  As  for 
the  forty  thousand  which  he  pretended  to  borrow  for  me  from 
one  of  his  clients  whose  money  he  had  squandered,  we  are 
going  to  law  about  it." 

"You  will  see  that  settled  this  coming  week,"  said  the 
elder  Popinot.  "  I  thought  that  you  would  not  mind  my 
explaining  your  position  to  the  president ;  he  has  ordered 
Roguin's  papers  to  be  brought  into  the  Council  Chamber ; 
on  examination  it  will  be  discovered  when  the  lender's  capital 
was  embezzled,  and  Derville's  allegations  can  be  proved  or 
disproved.  Derville  is  pleading  in  person,  to  save  expense 
to  you." 

"  Shall  we  gain  the  day?"  asked  Mme.  Birotteau. 

"I  do  not  know,"  Popinot  answered.  "Although  I  be- 
long to  the  Chamber  before  which  the  case  will  come,  I  shall 
refrain  from  deliberating  upon  it,  even  if  I  should  be  called 
upon  to  do  so." 

"But  can  there  be  any  doubt  about  such  a  straightforward 
case?"  asked  Pillerault.  "Ought  not  the  deed  to  state  that 
the  money  was  actually  paid  down,  and  must  not  the  notaries 
declare  that  they  have  seen  it  handed  over?  Roguin  would 
go  to  the  galleys  if  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  justice." 

"  In  my  opinion,"  the  judge  answered,  "  the  lender  should 
look  to  Roguin's  caution-money  and  the  amount  paid  for  the 
practice  for  his  remedy ;  but  sometimes,  in  still  simpler  cases 
than  this,  the  councilors  at  the  Court-Royal  have  been  divided 
six  against  six." 

"What  is  this,  mademoiselle;  has  Monsieur  Roguin  run 
away?"  asked  Anselme,  overhearing  at  last  what  was  being 
said.  "  Monsieur  C6sar  said  nothing  about  it  to  me — to  me 
who  would  give  my  life  for  him " 

Cesarine  felt  that  the  whole  family  was  included  in  that 
"  for  him  ;  "  for  if  the  girl's  inexperience  had  not  understood 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  241 

the  tone,  she  could  not  mistake  the  look  that  wrapped  her  in 
a  rosy  flame. 

"  I  was  sure  of  it ;  I  told  him  so,  but  he  hid  it  all  from 
mother,  and  told  his  secret  to  no  one  but  me." 

"  You  spoke  to  him  of  me  in  this  matter,"  said  Anselme; 
"  you  read  my  heart,  but  do  you  read  all  that  is  there  ?  " 

"  Perhaps." 

"  Oh  !  I  am  very  happy,"  said  Anselme.  "  If  you  will  re- 
move all  my  fears,  in  a  year's  time  I  shall  be  so  rich  that  your 
father  will  not  receive  me  so  badly  when  I  shall  speak  to  him 
then  of  our  marriage.  Five  hours  of  sleep  shall  be  enough 
for  me  now  of  a  night " 

"Do  not  make  yourself  ill,"  said  Cesarine,  and  no  words 
can  reproduce  the  tones  of  her  voice  as  she  gave  Anselme  a 
glance  wherein  all  her  thoughts  might  be  read. 

"Wife,"  said  C6sar,  as  they  rose  from  table,  "I  think 
those  young  people  are  in  love." 

"Oh,  well,  so  much  the  better,"  said  Constance  gravely; 
"  my  daughter  will  be  the  wife  of  a  man  who  has  a  head  on 
his  shoulders  and  plenty  of  energy.  Brains  are  the  best  en- 
dowment in  a  marriage." 

She  hurried  away  into  Mme.  Ragon's  room.  During  dinner, 
C6sar  had  let  fall  several  remarks  which  had  drawn  a  smile 
from  Pillerault  and  the  judge,  so  plainly  did  they  exhibit  the 
speaker's  ignorance ;  and  it  was  borne  in  upon  the  unfortunate 
woman  how  little  fitted  her  husband  was  to  struggle  with  mis- 
fortune. Constance's  heart  was  heavy  with  unshed  tears. 
Instinctively  she  mistrusted  du  Tillet,  for  all  mothers  under- 
stand timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes  without  learning  Latin. 
She  wept,  and  her  daughter  and  Mme.  Ragon,  with  their 
arms  about  her,  could  not  learn  the  cause  of  her  trouble. 

"It  is  the  nerves,"  she  said. 

The  rest  of  the  evening  was  spent  over  the  card-table  by 
the  old  people,  and  the  younger  ones  played  the  blithe  child- 
ish games  styled  "  innocent  amusements,"  because  they  cover 
16 


242  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

the  innocent  mischief  of  bourgeois  lovers.  The  Matifats 
joined  the  young  people. 

"Cesar,"  said  Constance,  as  they  went  home  again,  "go 
to  Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Nucingen  some  time  about  the  8th, 
so  as  to  be  sure  some  days  beforehand  that  you  can  meet  your 
engagements  on  the  i5th.  If  there  should  be  any  hitch  in 
your  arrangements,  would  you  raise  a  loan  one  day  to  pay 
your  debts  between  one  day  and  the  next?  " 

"I  will  go,  wife,"  Cesar  answered,  and  he  grasped  her 
hand  and  Cesarine's  in  his  as  he  added,  "  My  darlings,  I  have 
given  you  bitter  New  Year's  gifts  !  "  And  in  the  darkness 
inside  the  cab  the  two  women,  who  could  not  see  the  poor 
perfumer,  felt  hot  tears  falling  on  their  hands. 

"  Hope,  dear,"  said  Constance. 

"Everything  will  go  well,  papa;  Monsieur  Popinot  told 
me  that  he  would  give  his  life  for  you." 

"Forme — and  for  my  family;  that  is  it,  is  it  not?"  an- 
swered Cesar,  trying  to  speak  gaily. 

Cesarine  pressed  her  father's  hand  in  a  way  which  told  him 
that  Anselme  was  her  betrothed. 

Two  hundred  cards  arrived  for  Birotteau  on  New  Year's 
Day  and  the  two  following  days.  This  influx  of  tokens  of 
favor  and  of  false  friendship  is  a  painful  thing  for  people  who 
are  being  swept  away  by  the  current  of  misfortune.  Three 
times  C6sar  presented  himself  at  the  Baron  de  Nucingen's 
hotel,  and  each  time  in  vain.  The  New  Year's  festivities 
sufficiently  excused  the  banker's  absence.  But  on  the  last 
visit  Birotteau  went  as  far  as  the  banker's  private  office  and 
learned  from  a  German,  the  head  clerk,  that  M.  de  Nucingen 
had  only  returned  from  a  ball  given  by  the  Kellers  at  five 
o'clock  that  morning,  and  that  he  would  not  be  visible  until 
half-past  nine.  Birotteau  chatted  with  this  man  for  nearly 
half  an  hour,  and  contrived  to  interest  the  German  in  his 
affairs.  So,  during  the  day,  this  cabinet  minister  of  the 
house  of  Nucingen  wrote  to  tell  Cesar  that  the  Baron  would 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  243 

see  him  at  twelve  o'clock  the  following  morning,  January  the 
third.  Although  every  hour  brought  its  drop  of  bitterness,  that 
day  went  by  with  dreadful  swiftness.  The  perfumer  took  a 
cab  and  drove  to  the  hotel ;  the  courtyard  was  already  blocked 
with  carriages,  and  the  poor  honest  man's  heart  was  oppressed 
by  the  splendors  of  that  celebrated  house. 

"Yet  he  has  failed  twice,"  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  went 
up  the  handsome  staircase,  with  flowers  on  either  side,  and 
through  the  luxuriously  furnished  rooms  by  which  the  Bar- 
oness, Delphine  de  Nucingen,  had  made  a  name  for  herself. 
The  Baroness  strove  to  rival  the  most  splendid  houses  in  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain — the  houses  of  a  circle  into  which 
as  yet  she  had  no  right  of  entry. 

The  Baron  and  his  wife  were  at  breakfast.  In  spite  of  the 
number  of  those  who  were  waiting  in  his  offices  for  him,  he 
said  that  he  would  see  du  Tillet's  friends  at  any  hour. 
Birotteau  trembled  with  hope  at  the  change  which  the 
Baron's  message  produced  on  the  contemptuous  lackey's  in- 
solent face. 

"Bardon  me,  my  tear,"  said  the  Baron,  addressing  his 
wife,  as  he  rose  to  his  feet  and  bowed  slightly  to  Birotteau, 
"dees  shentleman  ees  ein  goot  Royaleest  and  de  indimate 
frient  of  du  Tillet.  Meinnesir  Pirodot  is  teputy-mayor  of  de 
second  arrontussement,  and  gifs  palls  of  Asiatic  magnifi- 
cence ;  you  vill  make,  no  doubt,  his  agquaintance  rait 
Measure." 

"  I  should  be  delighted  to  take  lessons  of  Madame  Birotteau, 

for  Ferdinand "  ("  Come,"  thought  the  perfumer,  "she 

calls  him  Ferdinand,  plump  and  plain.")  "  Ferdinand  spoke 
of  the  ball  to  us  with  an  admiration  which  says  the  more, 
because  Ferdinand  is  very  critical ;  everything  must  have 
been  perfect.  Shall  you  soon  give  another  ?"  asked  Mme. 
de  Nucingen,  with  a  most  amiable  expression. 

"Madame,  poor  folk  like  us  seldom  amuse  ourselves,"  an- 
swered the  perfumer,  doubtful  whether  the  Baroness  was 


244  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

laughing  at  him,  or  if  her  words  were  simply  an  empty  com- 
pliment. 

"  Meinnesir  Crintod  suberindended  de  alderations  in  your 
house,"  said  the  Baron. 

"  Oh !  Grindot !  is  he  that  nice  young  architect  who  has 
just  come  back  from  Rome?  "  asked  Delphine  de  Nucingen. 
"I  am  quite  wild  about  him;  he  is  making  lovely  sketches 
for  my  album." 

No  conspirator  in  the  hands  of  the  executioner  in  the 
torture  chamber  of  the  Venetian  Republic  could  have  felt 
less  at  his  ease  in  the  boots*  than  Birotteau  in  his  ordinary 
clothes  at  that  moment.  Every  word  had  for  him  an  ironical 
sound. 

"Ve  too  gif  liddle  palls  here,"  the  Baron  continued, 
giving  the  visitor  a  searching  glance.  "Eferypody  does  it, 
you  see  !  " 

"Will  Monsieur  Birotteau  join  us  at  breakfast?"  asked 
Delphine,  and  indicated  the  luxuriously  furnished  table. 

"  I  am  here  on  business,  Madame  la  Baronne,  and " 

"  Yes  !  "  said  the  Baron.  "  Matame,  vill  you  bermit  us  to 
talk  pizness  ? ' ' 

Delphine  made  a  little  gesture  of  assent.  "Are  you  about 
to  buy  some  perfumery?"  she  asked  of  the  Baron,  who 
shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  turned  in  despair  to  C6sar. 

"  Du  Dillet  take  de  greatest  inderest  in  you,"  said  he. 

"At  last  we  are  coming  to  the  point,"  thought  the  hapless 
merchant. 

"  Mit  his  ledder,  your  gretid  mil  my  house  is  only  limited 
py  de  pounds  of  my  own  fortune." 

The  life-giving  draught  which  the  angel  bore  to  Hagar  in 
the  wilderness  must  surely  have  been  like  the  dew  which  these 
outlandish  words  effused  through  Birotteau's  veins.  The  cun- 
ning Baron  clung  of  set  purpose  to  the  horrible  accent  of  the 
German  Jew,  who  flatters  himself  that  he  has  mastered  an 

*  An  instrument  of  torture  in  which  the  legs  were  crushed. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  245 

alien  tongue ;  for  this  system  led  to  misapprehensions  highly 
useful  to  him  in  the  way  of  business. 

"And  you  shall  have  ein  gurrent  aggount,  dat  is  how  we 
vill  do  it,"  remarked  the  good,  the  great,  and  venerable 
financier,  with  Alsatian  geniality. 

Birotteau's  doubts  were  all  laid  to  rest ;  he  had  had  experi- 
ence of  business,  and  he  knew  that  a  man  never  goes  into 
details  unless  he  is  disposed  to  oblige  you  and  to  carry  out  a 
plan. 

"I  neet  not  say  to  you  that  the  pank  demands  dree  zigna- 
tures  off  eferypody,  gif  de  amount  is  large  or  small.  So  you 
shall  make  all  your  pills  to  de  order  off  our  friend  du  Dillet, 
who  vill  send  dem  de  same  day  to  de  pank  mit  my  zignature, 
and  py  four  o'glock  you  shall  have  de  amount  of  de  pills  dat  you 
haf  accept  in  de  morning,  and  at  pank  rate.  I  do  not  vant  gom- 
mission  nor  discount — nor  nossing ;  for  I  shall  haf  de  bleasure 

of  peing  agreeable  to  you But  I  make  one  gondition  !  " 

he  added,  touching  his  nose  with  the  forefinger  of  his  left 
hand  and  putting  an  indescribable  cunning  into  the  gesture. 

"It  is  granted  before  you  ask  it,  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  said 
Birotteau,  imagining  that  the  banker  meant  to  stipulate  for  a 
share  in  the  profits. 

"Ein  gondition  to  vich  I  addach  de  greatest  price,  because 
I  should  like  Montame  de  Nichinguenne  to  take,  as  she  has 
said,  some  lessons  of  Montame  Pirodot." 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron,  do  not  laugh  at  me,  I  beg." 

"  Meinnesir  Pirodot,"  said  the  financier  seriously,  "it  is 
an  agreement ;  you  are  to  infite  us  to  your  next  pall.  My 
wife  is  chealous ;  she  would  like  to  see  your  house,  of  vich 
eferypody  says  such  great  dings." 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  !  " 

"Oh!  if  you  refuse  me,  no  loan  aggount!  You  are  in 
great  favor.  Yes !  I  know  dat  de  brefect  of  de  Seine  was 
go  to  you." 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  !  " 


246  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"You  had  La  Pillartiere,  ein  shentleman-in-ordinary  to  de 
King;  and  de  goot  Fenteheine,  for  you  were  wounded — at 
Sainte " 

"On  the  i3th  of  Vendemiaire,  Monsieur  le  Baron." 

"  You  had  Meinnesir  de  Lassebette,  Meinnesir  Fauqueleine 
of  de  Agademie " 

"  Monsieur  le  Baron  !  " 

"  Eh !  der  teufel,  do  not  be  so  modest,  Meester  Teputy- 
Mayor;  I  haf  heard  dat  de  King  said  dat  your  pall " 

"The  King?"  asked  Birotteau,  destined  to  learn  no  more, 
for  at  this  moment  a  young  man  came  into  the  room ;  the 
sound  of  his  footsteps,  heard  at  a  distance,  had  brought  a 
bright  color  into  Delphine  de  Nucingen's  fair  and  beautiful 
face. 

"Goot-tay,  my  tear  de  Marsay,"  said  the  Baron.  "Take 
my  blace;  dere  are  a  lot  of  beoples  in  my  office,  dey  say. 
Who  knows  why?  De  mines  off  Wortschinne  are  baying  two 
hunderd  ber  cent.  !  Yes.  I  have  receifed  de  aggounts.  You 
haf  a  hunderd  tousand  francs  more  of  ingom  dis  year,  Mon- 
tame  de  Nichinguenne ;  you  could  buy  girdles  and  kew-kaws 
to  make  yourself  pretty,  as  if  you  neeted  dem  !  " 

"Good  heavens!"  exclaimed  Birotteau.  "The  Ragons 
have  sold  their  shares  !  " 

"Who  may  these  gentlemen  be?"  asked  the  young  dandy 
with  a  smile. 

"  Dere  !  "  said  Nucingen,  who  had  gone  as  far  as  the  door 

already,  "  it  looks  to  me  as  if  dose  bersons Te  Marsay, 

dis  is  Meinnesir  Pirodot,  your  berfumer,  who  gifs  palls  mit 
Asiatic  magnificence,  and  has  been  degoraded  py  de  King 
and " 

De  Marsay,  taking  up  his  eyeglass,  remarked,  "Ah  !  to  be 
sure.  I  thought  that  the  face  was  familiar.  Then  are  you 
about  to  perfume  your  affairs  with  some  efficacious  oil,  to  make 
them  run  smoothly  ?  " 

"Ach!  veil,  dose  Rakkons  had  an  aggount  mit  me,"  the 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  247 

Baron  went  on.  "  I  put  dem  in  de  vay  of  ein  fortune,  and 
dey  could  not  vait  one  more  day  for  it." 

"Monsieur  le  Baron  !  "  cried  Birotteau. 

The  worthy  perfumer  found  himself  very  much  in  the  dark 
about  his  affairs,  and  fled  after  the  banker  without  taking 
leave  of  the  Baroness  or  of  de  Marsay.  M.  de  Nucingen  was 
on  the  lowest  step  of  the  stairs,  but  even  as  he  reached  the 
door  of  his  office,  Birotteau  was  beside  him.  As  he  turned 
the  handle  he  saw  the  despairing  gesture  of  the  poor  creature, 
for  whom  the  gulf  was  yawning,  and  said — 

"Eh!  it  is  understood,  is  it  not?  See  du  Billet,  and 
arranche  it  all  mit  him." 

It  occurred  to  Birotteau  that  de  Marsay  might  have  some 
influence  with  the  Baron ;  he  darted  upstairs  with  the  speed 
of  a  swallow,  and  slipped  into  the  dining-room  where,  by 
rights,  the  Baroness  and  de  Marsay  should  have  been,  for  he 
had  left  Delphine  waiting  for  her  coffee  and  cream.  The 
coffee  indeed  was  now  waiting,  but  the  Baroness  and  the  young 
dandy  had  vanished;  the  servant  looked  amused  at  Birotteau's 
astonishment,  and  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  go  more 
leisurely  downstairs  again.  From  the  Nucingens'  hotel  he 
went  at  once  to  du  Tillet,  only  to  hear  that  he  was  at  Mme. 
Roguin's  house  in  the  country.  He  took  a  cab,  and  paid  an 
extra  fare  to  be  driven  to  Nogent-sur-Marne  as  quickly  as  if  he 
had  traveled  post.  But  at  Nogent-sur-Marne  the  porter  told 
him  that  Monsieur  and  Madame  had  set  out  for  Paris,  and 
Birotteau  returned  quite  tired  out. 

When  he  told  his  wife  and  daughter  the  story  of  his  excur- 
sion, he  was  amazed  to  receive  the  sweetest  consolation  and 
assurances  that  all  would  go  well  from  Constance,  who  had 
always  taken  all  the  little  ups  and  downs  of  business  as  occa- 
sions on  which  to  utter  her  boding  cries. 

At  seven  o'clock  the  next  morning,  Birotteau  took  up  his 
position  before  du  Tillet'sdoor  in  the  dim  light.  He  begged 
the  porter  to  put  him  into  communication  with  du  Tillet's 


248  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU: 

man,  and,  by  dint  of  slipping  ten  francs  into  the  porter's 
hands,  obtained  the  favor  of  an  interview  with  du  Tillet's 
man ;  of  him  he  asked  to  give  him  an  interview  with  du  Til- 
let  as  soon  as  du  Tillet  should  be  visible,  and  to  that  end  a 
couple  of  gold-pieces  found  their  way  into  the  possession  of 
du  Tillet's  men.  By  way  of  these  little  sacrifices  and  great 
humiliations,  common  to  courtiers  and  petitioners,  he  attained 
his  end.  At  half-past  eight,  when  his  ex-assistant  had  slipped 
on  a  dressing-gown  and  shaken  off  the  confused  ideas  of  a 
man  awakened  from  sleep,  had  yawned,  stretched  himself, 
and  asked  pardon  of  his  old  master,  Birotteau  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  the  tiger  thirsting  for  revenge,  the  man 
whom  he  was  fain  to  consider  as  his  one  friend  in  the  world. 
"  Do  not  mind  me,"  said  Birotteau,  replying  to  the  apology. 
"What  do  you  want,  my  good  Cesar?"  asked  du  Tillet; 
and  C£sar,  not  without  terrible  palpitations,  gave  the  Baron 
de  Nucingen's  answer  and  demands  to  an  inattentive  listener, 
who  looked  about  for  the  bellows,  and  scolded  his  manservant 
for  taking  so  long  over  lighting  the  fire. 

Cesar  did  not  notice  at  first  that,  if  the  master  was  not 
heedful,  the  man  was  interested ;  but  seeing  this  at  last  he 
grew  confused  and  broke  off,  to  begin  again,  spurred  on  by  a 
"  Go  on,  go  on  ;  I  am  listening,"  from  the  abstracted  banker. 
The  good  man's  shirt  was  soaked  with  perspiration,  which 
turned  icy  cold  when  du  Tillet  looked  full  and  steadily  at 
him,  and  he  could  see  those  eyes  of  silver  streaked  with  a  few 
gold  threads;  there  was  a  diabolical  light  in  them  which 
pierced  him  to  the  heart. 

"  My  dear  master,  the  bank  refused  your  paper,  passed  on 
to  Gigonnet  without  guarantee  by  the  firm  of  Claparon  ;  is 
that  my  fault  ?  What !  you  have  been  a  judge  at  the  Con- 
sular Tribunal,  how  could  you  make  such  blunders?  I  am, 
before  all  things,  a  banker.  I  will  give  you  my  money,  but  I 
could  not  expose  my  signature  to  a  refusal  from  the  bank.  I 
live  by  credit.  So  do  we  all.  Do  you  want  money?" 


C&SAR   BIROTTEAU:  249 

"  Can  you  let  me  have  all  that  I  need  in  cash  ?  " 
"  That  depends  upon  the  amount  to  be  paid.     How  much 
do  you  want  ?  " 

"Thirty  thousand  francs." 

"Plenty  of  chimney-pots  tumbling  about  my  ears!"  ex- 
claimed du  Tillet,  and  he  burst  into  a  laugh. 

The  perfumer,  misled  by  the  splendor  of  du  Tillet's  sur- 
roundings, chose  to  regard  that  laugh  as  a  sign  that  the  sum 
was  a  mere  trifle.  He  breathed  again.  Du  Tillet  rang  the 
bell. 

"  Tell  the  cashier  to  come  up." 
"  He  is  not  here  yet,  sir,"  the  servant  answered. 
"  Those  rogues  are  laughing  at  me  !     It  is  half-past  eight; 
they  ought  to  have  done  a  million  francs'  worth  of  business 
by  now." 

Five  minutes  later  M.  Legras  came  upstairs. 
"  How  much  have  we  in  the  safe  ?  " 

"  Only  twenty  thousand  francs.  Your  orders  were  to  buy 
thirty  thousand  livres  per  annum  in  rentes,  at  present  price, 
payable  on  the  i5th." 

"  That  is  right ;  I  am  still  asleep." 
The  cashier  gave  Birotteau  a  sly  glance,  and  went. 
"If  truth  were  banished  from  the  earth  she  would   leave 
her  last  word  with  a  cashier,"  said  du  Tillet.     "  But  have  you 
not  an  interest  in  little  Popinot's  business,  now  that  he  has  just 
set  up  for  himself?"    he  added,  after   a   horrible   pause  in 
which  the  sweat  gathered  in  drops  on  Birotteau's  forehead. 

"Yes,"  said  Cesar  innocently.  "  Do  you  think  you  could 
discount  his  signature  for  a  fair  amount?" 

"Bring  me  fifty  thousand  francs'  worth  of  his  acceptances, 
and  I  will  get  them  negotiated  for  you  at  a  reasonable  rate  by 
one  Gobseck  ;  very  easy  to  do  business  with  when  he  has  plenty 
of  uncalled-for  capital  on  his  hands,  and  he  has  a  good  deal 
just  now." 

Birotteau  went  home  again  heartbroken.     He  did  not  see 


250  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

that  bankers  and  bill-discounters  were  sending  him  backward 
and  forward  in  a  game  of  battledore  and  shuttlecock  ;  but 
Constance  guessed  even  then  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
obtain  a  loan  of  any  sort.  If  three  bankers  had  already  re- 
fused credit  to  a  man  so  well  known  as  the  deputy-mayor 
every  one  would  hear  of  it,  and  the  Bank  of  France  was  no 
longer  to  be  thought  of. 

"Try  to  renew"  (this  was  Constance's  advice).  "Go  to 
your  co-associate,  Monsieur  Claparon,  to  every  one,  in  fact, 
whose  bills  fall  due  on  the  i5th,  and  ask  them  to  renew. 
There  will  be  time  enough  then  to  go  to  bill-discounters  with 
Popinot's  bills." 

"  To-morrow  will  be  the  i3th  !  "  exclaimed  Birotteau,  worn 
out  with  anxiety. 

He  was  "  endowed  with  a  sanguine  temperament,"  to  quote 
his  own  prospectus ;  a  temperament  upon  which  the  wear 
and  tear  of  emotion  and  of  thought  tell  so  enormously  that 
sleep  is  imperatively  needed  to  repair  the  waste.  Cesarine 
brought  her  father  into  the  drawing-room,  and  played  "  Rous- 
seau's Dream,"  that  charming  composition  of  Herold's,  while 
Constance  sat  sewing  by  her  husband's  side.  The  poor  man 
lay  back  on  the  ottoman  couch.  Every  time  his  eyes  rested 
on  his  wife  he  saw  a  sweet  smile  on  her  lips,  and  so  he  fell 
asleep. 

"  Poor  man  !  "  said  Constance.  "  What  torture  is  in  store 
for  him  !  If  only  he  can  endure  it  !  " 

"Oh,  mamma,  what  is  it?"  asked  Cesarine,  seeing  her 
mother  in  tears. 

"  I  see  bankruptcy  ahead,  darling.  If  your  father  is  obliged 
to  file  his  schedule  there  must  be  no  asking  for  pity  of  any 
one.  You  must  be  prepared  to  be  an  ordinary  store-girl,  my 
dear.  If  I  see  you  doing  your  part  bravely,  I  shall  have 
strength  to  begin  life  again.  I  know  your  father  ;  he  will 
not  keep  back  one  centime ;  I  shall  give  up  my  claims,  all 
that  we  have  will  be  sold.  Take  your  clothes  and  trinkets 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  251 

to-morrow  to  Uncle  Pillerault ;  you  are  not  bound  to  lose 
anything,  my  child." 

At  these  words,  spoken  with  such  devout  sincerity,  Cesar- 
ine's  terror  knew  no  bounds.  She  thought  of  going  to  An- 
selme,  but  a  feeling  of  delicacy  withheld  her. 

The  next  morning  found  Birotteau  in  the  Rue  de  Provence 
at  nine  o'clock.  He  had  fallen  a  victim  to  fresh  anxieties  of 
a  totally  different  kind.  To  borrow  money  is  not  necessarily  a 
complicated  process  in  business  ;  it  is  a  matter  of  daily  oc- 
currence, for  capital  must  always  be  found  wherever  a  new 
enterprise  is  started  ;  but  to  ask  a  man  to  renew  a  bill  is  in 
commercial  circles  what  the  police  court  is  to  the  court  of 
assize ;  it  is  a  first  step  to  bankruptcy,  even  as  a  misde- 
meanor is  half-way  to  a  crime.  The  secret  of  your  weakness 
and  your  embarrassment  passes  out  of  your  own  keeping.  A 
merchant  delivers  himself  up,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  another 
merchant,  and  charity  is  not  a  virtue  much  practiced  on  the 
Stock  Exchange. 

The  perfumer,  who  hitherto  had  walked  the  streets  of  Paris 
with  bright  confident  eyes,  now  cast  down  by  doubts,  hesi- 
tated to  go  to  Claparon ;  he  was  beginning  to  understand 
that  with  bankers  the  heart  is  merely  a  portion  of  the  internal 
economy.  Claparon  had  seemed  to  him  so  brutal  in  his  coarse 
hilarity,  and  he  had  felt  so  much  vulgarity  in  the  man,  that 
he  shrank  from  approaching  this  creditor. 

"  He  is  nearer  the  people,  perhaps  he  will  have  more  soul ! " 
This  was  the  first  word  of  accusation  which  the  anguish  of  his 
position  wrung  from  him. 

Cesar  glanced  up  at  the  windows  and  at  the  green  curtains 
yellowed  by  the  sun  ;  then  he  drew  the  last  of  his  stock  of 
courage  up  from  the  depths  of  his  soul,  and  climbed  the  stairs 
that  led  to  a  shabby  mezzanine  floor.  He  read  the  word 
"Office,"  engraven  in  black  letters  on  an  oval  brass-plate 
upon  the  door,  and  knocked.  No  one  answered,  so  he  went  in. 

The  whole  place  was  something  more  than  humble ;  it  sav- 


252  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

ored  of  dire  poverty,  avarice,  or  neglect.  No  clerk  showed 
his  face  behind  the  barrier  of  unpainted  pine,  surmounted  at 
elbow-height  by  a  brass-wire  lattice,  an  arrangement  which 
screened  off  an  inner  space  occupied  by  tables  and  desks  of 
blackened  wood.  Scattered  about  the  deserted  offices  lay 
inkstands  in  which  mold  was  growing,  quill-pens  touzled 
like  a  street  urchin's  head,  twisted  up  into  suns  with  rays ; 
the  rooms  were  littered  with  cardboard  cases,  papers,  and  cir- 
culars, useless  no  doubt.  The  floor  of  the  lobby  was  as  worn, 
as  damp  and  gritty  as  the  floor  of  a  lodging-house  parlor. 
Through  a  door  on  which  the  word  "  Counting-room  "  was 
inscribed,  the  visitor  entered  a  second  room,  where  every- 
thing was  in  keeping  with  the  sinister  waggery  displayed  in 
the  first.  In  one  corner  stood  a  large  cage  of  oak  with  a  grill 
of  copper- wire,  and  a  cashier's  sliding  window.  An  enor- 
mous iron  letter-box  had  doubtless  been  abandoned  to  the  rats 
for  a  playground.  The  open  door  of  this  cage  gave  a  view 
of  yet  another  of  these  whimsical  offices,  and  of  a  shabby  and 
worm-eaten  green  chair,  a  mass  of  horsehair  escaping  through 
a  hole  underneath  this  piece  of  furniture  in  countless  cork- 
screw curls  that  called  its  owner's  wig  in  mind.  Evidently 
this  room  had  been  the  drawing-room  of  the  house  before  it 
had  been  converted  into  offices,  but  the  only  attempt  at  orna- 
mental furniture  was  a  round  table  covered  with  a  green  cloth, 
and  some  old  chairs  covered  with  black  leather  and  adorned 
with  gilt  nail-heads  which  stood  about  it.  The  mantel  had 
some  pretensions  to  elegance,  the  hearthstone  was  un black- 
ened, and  there  were  no  visible  signs  that  a  fire  had  been 
lighted  there.  The  pier-glass  above  it,  tarnished  with  fly- 
spots,  had  a  mean  look ;  so  had  a  mahogany  clock-case  bought 
at  the  sale  of  some  departed  notary's  office  furniture,  a  dreary 
object  which  enhanced  the  depressing  effect  of  the  pair  of 
empty  candlesticks  and  the  all-pervading  sticky  grime.  The 
dinginess  of  the  paper  on  the  walls,  drab  with  a  rose-colored 
border,  spoke  plainly  of  the  habitual  presence  of  smokers  and 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAV.  253 

absence  of  ventilation.  The  whole  stale-looking  room  re- 
sembled nothing  so  much  as  a  newspaper  editor's  office. 
Birotteau,  afraid  of  intruding  on  the  banker's  privacy,  gave 
three  sharp  taps  on  the  door  opposite  the  one  by  which  he 
had  entered. 

"  Come  in  !  "  cried  Claparon,  and  the  sound  of  his  voice 
evidently  came  from  a  room  beyond.  The  perfumer  could 
hear  a  good  fire  crackling  on  the  hearth,  but  the  banker  was 
not  there.  This  apartment  did  duty,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  for 
a  private  office.  Fran£ois  Keller's  elegantly  furnished  sanc- 
tum differed  from  the  grotesque  neglect  of  this  sham  capi- 
talist's surroundings  as  widely  as  Versailles  differs  from  the 
wigwam  of  a  Huron  chief;  and  Birotteau,  who  had  beheld 
the  glories  of  the  banking  world,  was  about  to  be  introduced 
to  its  blackguardism. 

In  a  sort  of  oblong  den,  contrived  behind  the  private  office, 
where  the  whole  of  the  furniture,  scarcely  elegant  in  its  prime, 
had  been  battered,  broken,  covered  with  grease,  slit  to  rags, 
soiled  and  spoiled  by  the  slovenly  habits  of  the  occupier, 
reclined  Claparon,  who,  at  sight  of  Birotteau,  flung  on  a  filthy 
dressing-gown,  laid  down  his  pipe,  and  drew  the  bed-curtains 
with  a  haste  that  seemed  suspicious  even  to  the  innocent 
perfumer. 

"  Take  a  seat,  sir,"  said  du  Tillet's  banker  puppet. 

Claparon  without  his  wig,  his  head  tied  up  in  a  bandanna 
handkerchief  all  awry,  was  to  Birotteau's  thinking  the  more 
repulsive  in  that  his  loose  dressing-gown  gave  glimpses  of  a 
nondescript  knitted  woolen  garment,  once  white,  but  now  a 
dingy  brown,  from  indefinitely  prolonged  wear. 

"Will  you  breakfast  with  me?"  asked  Claparon,  bethink- 
ing himself  of  the  ball,  and  prompted  partly  by  a  wish  to  turn 
the  tables  on  his  host,  partly  by  anxiety  to  put  Birotteau  off 
the  scent.  And,  in  point  of  fact,  a  round  table,  hastily  cleared 
of  papers,  was  suspiciously  suggestive ;  for  it  displayed  a  p&td, 
oysters,  white  wine,  and  a  dish  of  vulgar  kidneys,  sautts  au  inn 


254  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

de  Champagne,  cooling  in  their  gravy,  while  an  omelette  with 
truffles  was  browning  before  the  sea-coal  fire.  The  table  was 
set  for  two  persons]  two  table-napkins,  soiled  at  supper  on 
the  previous  evening,  would  have  enlightened  the  purest  inno- 
cence. Claparon,  in  the  character  of  a  man  who  has  a  belief 
in  his  own  adroitness,  insisted  in  spite  of  Birotteau's  polite 
refusals. 

"  I  should  by  rights  have  had  somebody  to  breakfast,  but 
that  somebody  has  not  kept  the  appointment,"  cried  the  cun- 
ning commercial  traveler,  speaking  loud,  so  that  the  words 
might  reach  the  ears  of  an  auditor  hiding  under  the  blankets. 

"I  have  come  on  business  pure  and  simple,  sir,"  said 
Birotteau,  "and  I  shall  not  detain  you  long." 

"I  am  overwhelmed  with  business,"  returned  Claparon, 
pointing  to  a  cylinder-desk  and  to  the  tables,  which  were  heaped 
up  with  papers;  "  not  a  poor  little  minute  may  I  have  to  my- 
self. I  never  see  people  except  on  Saturdays ;  but  for  you,  my 
dear  sir,  I  am  always  at  home.  I  have  no  time  left  nowadays 
for  love  affairs  or  lounging  about ;  I  am  losing  the  business  in- 
stinct, which  takes  intervals  of  carefully  timed  idleness,  if  it 
is  to  keep  its  freshness.  Nobody  sees  me  busy  doing  nothing 
in  the  boulevards.  Pshaw  !  business  bores  me,  I  don't  care 
to  hear  any  more  about  business  at  present ;  I  have  money 
enough,  and  I  shall  never  have  pleasure  enough.  My  word, 
I  have  a  mind  to  turn  tourist  and  see  Italy.  Ah  !  beloved 
Italy !  fair  even  amid  her  adversity,  adorable  land,  where, 
doubtless,  I  shall  find  some  magnificent,  indolent  Italian 
beauty;  I  have  always  admired  Italian  women!  Have  you 
ever  had  an  Italian  mistress?  No?  Oh,  well,  come  to  Italy 
with  me.  We  will  see  Venice,  the  city  of  the  Doges,  fallen, 
more's  the  pity,  into  the  hands  of  those  Philistines  the  Aus- 
trians,  who  know  nothing  of  art.  Pooh  !  let  us  leave  business, 
and  canals,  and  loans,  and  governments  in  peace.  I  am  a 
prince  when  my  pockets  are  well  lined.  Let  us  travel,  by 
Jove!" 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  255 

"Just  one  word,  sir,  and  I  will  go,"  said  Birotteau.  "You 
passed  my  bills  on  to  Monsieur  Bidault." 

"  Gigonnet,  you  mean  ;  nice  little  fellow,  Gigonnet ;  a  man 
as  easy-going  as  a — as  a  slip-knot." 

"  Yes,"  said  Cesar.  "  I  should  be  glad — and  in  this  mat- 
ter I  am  relying  on  your  integrity  and  honor" — (Claparon 
bowed) — "  I  should  be  glad  if  I  could  renew " 

"Impossible,"  said  the  banker  roundly — "impossible.  I 
am  not  the  only  man  in  the  affair.  We  are  all  in  council, 
'tis  a  regular  Chamber;  but  that  we  are  all  on  good  terms 
among  ourselves,  like  rashers  in  a  pan.  Oh,  we  deliberate, 
that  we  do  !  The  building  land  by  the  Madeleine  is  nothing; 
we  are  doing  other  things  elsewhere.  Eh  !  my  good  sir,  if 
we  were  not  busy  in  the  Champs-Elysees,  near  the  new  Ex- 
change which  has  just  been  finished,  in  the  Quartier  Saint- 
Lazare  and  about  the  Tivoli,  we  should  not  be  vinancters,  as 
old  Nucingen  says.  So  what  is  the  Madeleine  ?  A  little 
speck  of  a  business.  Prrr  !  we  do  not  dabble,  my  good  sir," 
he  said,  tapping  Birotteau's  chest,  and  giving  him  a  hug. 
"There,  come  and  have  your  breakfast,  and  we  will  have  a 
talk,"  Claparon  continued,  by  way  of  softening  his  refusal. 

"By  all  means,"  said  Birotteau.  "So  much  the  worse  for 
the  other,"  thought  he.  He  would  wait  till  the  wine  went  to 
Claparon's  head,  and  find  out  then  who  his  partners  really 
were  in  this  affair,  which  began  to  have  a  very  shady  look. 

"That  is  right!  Victoire  !  "  shouted  the  banker,  and  at 
the  call  appeared  a  genuine  Leonarda,  tricked  out  like  a  fish- 
wife. 

"Tell  the  clerks  that  I  cannot  see  anybody,  not  even 
Nucingen,  Keller,  Gigonnet,  and  the  rest  of  them  !  " 

"  There  is  no  one  here  but  Monsieur  Lempereur." 

"He  can  receive  the  fashionables,"  said  Claparon,  "and 
the  small  fry  need  not  go  beyond  the  public  office.  They 
can  be  told  that  I  am  meditating  how  to  get  a  pull — at  a 
bottle  of  champagne." 


256  C&SAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

To  make  an  old  commercial  traveler  tipsy  is  to  achieve  the 
impossible.  Cesar  had  mistaken  his  boon  companion's  symp- 
toms, and  thought  his  boisterous  vulgarity  was  due  to  intoxi- 
cation, when  he  tried  to  shrive  him. 

"  There  is  that  rascal  Roguin  still  in  it  with  you,"  said 
Birotteau;  "  ought  you  not  to  write  and  tell  him  to  help  out 
a  friend  whom  he  has  left  in  the  lurch,  a  friend  with  whom 
he  dined  every  Sunday,  and  whom  he  has  known  for  twenty 
years  ? ' ' 

"  Roguin  ?  A  fool ;  we  have  his  share.  Don't  be  down- 
hearted, my  good  friend,  it  will  be  all  right.  Pay  on  the 
i5th,  and  that  done,  we  shall  see!  I  say,  'we  shall  see' — 
(a  glass  of  wine  !  ) — but  the  capital  is  no  concern  of  mine 
whatever.  Oh  !  if  you  should  not  pay  at  all,  /  should  not 
give  you  black  looks ;  my  share  in  the  affair  is  limited  to  a 
percentage  on  the  purchase-money  and  something  down  on 
completion  of  the  contract,  in  consideration  of  which  I 
brought  round  the  vendors.  Do  you  understand  ?  Your  asso- 
ciates are  good  men,  so  I  am  not  afraid,  my  dear  sir.  Business  is 
so  divided  up  nowadays.  Every  business  requires  the  co- 
operation of  so  many  specialists  !  Do  you  join  the  rest  of  us? 
Then  do  not  dabble  in  combs  and  pomade-pots — a  paltry  way 
of  doing  business ;  fleece  the  public,  and  go  in  for  the  specu- 
lation." 

"A  speculation?"  asked  the  perfumer;  "what  sort  of 
business  is  it  ?  " 

"It  is  commerce  in  the  abstract,"  replied  Claparon,  "an 
affair  which  will  only  come  to  light  in  ten  years'  time  at  the 
bidding  of  the  great  Nucingen,  the  Napoleon  of  finance,  a 
scheme  by  which  a  man  embraces  sum-totals  and  skims  the 
cream  of  profits  yet  to  be  made ;  a  gigantic  conception,  a 
method  of  marking  expectations  like  timber  for  annual  fell- 
ing ;  it  is  a  new  cabal,  in  short.  There  are  but  ten  or  twelve 
of  us  as  yet,  long-headed  men,  all  initiated  into  the  cabalistic 
secrets  of  these  magnificent  combinations." 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  257 

Cesar  opened  his  eyes  and  ears,  trying  to  comprehend  these 
mixed  metaphors. 

"  Listen  to  me,"  Claparon  continued,  after  a  pause ;  "  such 
strokes  as  these  need  very  capable  men.  Now,  there  is  the 
man  who  has  ideas  but  has  not  a  penny,  like  all  men  with 
ideas.  That  sort  of  man  spends  and  is  spent,  and  cares  for 
nothing.  Imagine  a  pig  roaming  about  a  wood  for  truffles, 
and  a  knowing  fellow  on  his  tracks ;  that  is  the  man  with  the 
money,  who  waits  till  he  hears  a  grunt  over  a  find.  When 
the  man  with  the  ideas  has  hit  upon  a  good  notion,  the  man 
with  the  money  taps  him  on  the  shoulder  with  a  *  What  is 
this?  You  are  putting  yourself  in  the  furnace-mouth,  my 
good  friend ;  your  back  is  not  strong  enough  to  carry  this ; 
here  are  a  thousand  francs  for  you,  and  let  me  put  this  affair 
in  working  order.'  Good!  Then  the  banker  summons  the 
manufacturers — '  Set  to  work,  my  friends  !  Out  with  your 
prospectuses  !  Blarney  to  the  death  !  '  Out  come  the  hunt- 
ing-horns, and  they  pipe  up  with  'A  hundred  thousand 
francs  for  five  sous  ! ' — or  five  sous  for  a  hundred  thousand 
francs,  gold-mines,  coal-mines ;  all  the  flourishes  and  alarums 
of  commerce,  in  short.  Art  and  science  are  paid  to  give 
their  opinion,  the  affair  is  paraded  about,  the  public  rushes 
into  it  and  receives  paper  for  its  money,  and  our  takings  are 
in  our  hands.  The  pig  is  safe  in  his  stye  with  his  potatoes, 
and  the  rest  of  them  are  wallowing  in  bills  of  exchange. 
That  is  how  it  is  done,  my  dear  sir.  Go  in  for  speculation. 
What  do  you  want  to  be  ?  A  pig  or  a  gull,  a  clown  or  a 
millionaire  ?  Think  it  over.  I  have  summed  up  the  modern 
theory  of  loans  for  you.  Come  to  see  me ;  you  will  find  a 
good  fellow,  always  jolly.  French  joviality,  at  once  grave 
and  gay,  does  no  harm  in  business,  quite  the  contrary  !  Men 
who  can  drink  are  made  to  understand  each  other.  Come  ! 
another  glass  of  champagne  ?  It  is  choice  wine,  eh  ?  It  was 
sent  me  by  a  man  at  Epernay,  for  whom  I  have  sold  a  good 
deal  of  it,  and  at  good  prices  too  (I  used  to  be  in  the  wine 
17 


258  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

trade).  He  shows  his  gratitude  and  remembers  me  in  my 
prosperity.  A  rare  trait." 

Birotteau,  bewildered  by  this  flippancy  and  careless  tone 
in  a  man  whom  everybody  credited  with  such  astonishing 
profundity  and  breadth,  did  not  dare  to  question  him  any 
further.  But,  in  spite  of  the  confusion  and  excitement  in- 
duced by  unwonted  potations  of  champagne,  a  name  let  fall 
by  du  Tillet  came  up  in  his  mind,  and  he  asked  for  the  ad- 
dress of  a  bill-discounter  named  Gobseck. 

"Is  that  what  you  are  after,  my  dear  sir?"  asked  Claparon. 
"  Gobseck  is  a  bill-discounter  in  the  same  sense  that  the 
hangman  is  a  doctor.  The  first  thing  that  he  says  to  you  is 
'Fifty  per  cent.'  He  belongs  to  the  school  of  Harpagon ; 
he  will  supply  you  with  canary  birds  and  stuffed  boa-con- 
strictors, with  furs  in  summer  and  nankeen  in  winter.  And 
whose  bills  are  you  going  to  offer  him  ?  He  will  want  you  to 
deposit  your  wife,  your  daughter,  your  umbrella,  and  every- 
thing that  is  yours,  down  to  your  hat-box,  your  clogs  (do  you 
wear  hinged  clogs  ?),  poker  and  tongs,  and  the  firewood  in 
your  cellar,  before  he  will  take  your  bills  with  your  bare  name 
to  them  ! Gobseck  !  Gobseck  !  In  the  name  of  mis- 
fortune, who  sent  you  to  the  guillotine  of  commerce?" 

"M.  du  Tillet." 

"Oh!  the  rogue;  just  like  him.  We  used  to  be  friends 
once  upon  a  time  ;  and  if  the  quarrel  has  gone  so  far  that  we 
do  not  speak  to  each  other  now,  I  have  good  reason  for  dis- 
liking him,  believe  me  !  He  let  me  see  to  the  bottom  of  his 
soul  of  mud,  and  he  made  me  uncomfortable  at  that  fine  ball  you 
gave.  I  cannot  bear  him,  with  the  coxcomb's  airs  he  gives 
himself,  because  he  has  the  good  graces  of  a  notaresse  !  I 
could  have  marquises  myself  if  I  had  a  mind  ;  he  will  never 
have  my  esteem,  I  know.  Ah  !  my  esteem  is  a  princess  who 
will  never  take  up  too  much  room  on  his  pillow.  I  say 
though,  old  man,  you  are  a  funny  one  to  give  us  a  ball  and 
then  come  and  ask  us  to  renew  two  months  afterward  !  You 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  259 

are  likely  to  go  far.  Let  us  go  into  speculation  together. 
You  have  a  character ;  it  would  be  useful  to  me.  Oh  !  du 
Tillet  was  born  to  understand  Gobseck.  Du  Tillet  will  come 
to  a  bad  end  in  the  Place  de  Greve.  If,  as  they  say,  he  is  one 
of  Gobseck's  lambs,  he  will  soon  come  to  the  length  of  his 
tether.  Gobseck  squats  in  a  corner  of  his  web  like  an  old 
spider  who  has  seen  the  world.  Sooner  or  later,  zut !  and  the 
money-lender  sucks  in  his  man  like  a  glass  of  wine.  So 
much  the  better  !  Du  Tillet  played  me  a  trick — oh!  a  scurvy 
trick!  " 

After  an  hour  and  a  half  spent  in  listening  to  meaningless 
prate,  Birotteau  determined  to  go,  for  the  commercial  trav- 
eler was  preparing  to  relate  the  adventure  of  a  representative 
of  the  people  at  Marseilles,  who  had  fallen  in  love  with  an 
actress  who  played  the  part  of  "  La  belle  Arsene."  The  Roy- 
alist pit  hissed  the  lady. 

"  Up  he  gets,"  said  Claparon,  "and  stands  bolt  upright  in 

his  box.  'Arte  qui  /'a  siblee  ?  '  says  he ;  '  eu  ! Si  c'est 

ounefemme,je  V  amprise  ;  si  c*  est  mine  homtne,  nous  se  verrons  ; 

si  c'est  ni  I'un  ni  I'autte,  que  le  troun  di  Diou  le  cure  ?  ' 

How  do  you  think  the  adventure  ended  ?  " 

"Good-day,  sir,"  said  Birotteau. 

"You  will  have  to  come  and  see  me,"  said  Claparon  at 
this.  "  Cayron's  first  bill  has  come  back  protested,  and  I  am 
the  indorser ;  I  have  reimbursed  the  money,  and  I  shall  send 
it  on  to  you,  for  business  is  business." 

Birotteau  felt  this  cold  affectation  of  a  readiness  to  oblige, 
as  he  had  already  felt  Keller's  hardness  and  Nucingen's  Teu- 
tonic banter,  in  his  very  heart.  The  man's  familiarity,  his 
grotesque  confidences  made  in  the  generous  glow  of  cham- 
pagne, had  been  like  a  blight  to  the  perfumer ;  he  felt  as  if  he 
were  leaving  some  evil  haunt  in  the  world  financial. 

He  walked  downstairs  ;  he  found  himself  in  the  street  and 
went,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  He  followed  the  boule- 
vard till  he  reached  the  Rue  Saint-Denis  then  he  bethought 


260  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

himself  of  Molineux,  and  turned  to  go  toward  the  Cour 
Batave.  He  mounted  the  same  dirty  tortuous  staircase  which 
he  had  ascended  but  lately  in  the  pride  of  his  glory.  He 
remembered  Molineux's  peevish  meanness,  and  winced  at  the 
thought  of  asking  a  favor  of  him.  As  on  the  occasion  of  his 
previous  visit,  he  found  the  owner  of  house-property  by  the 
fireside,  but  this  time  he  had  eaten  his  breakfast.  Birotteau 
formulated  his  demand. 

"  Renew  a  bill  for  twelve  hundred  francs?  "  said  Molineux, 
with  an  incredulous  smile.  "You  do  not  mean  it,  sir.  If 
you  have  not  twelve  hundred  francs  on  the  15111  to  meet  my 
bill,  will  you  please  to  send  me  back  my  receipt  for  rent  that 
has  not  been  paid?  Ah  !  I  should  be  angry;  I  do  not  use  the 
slightest  ceremony  in  money  matters  ;  my  rents  are  my  income. 
If  I  acted  otherwise,  how  should  I  pay  my  way  ?  A  man  in 
business  will  not  disapprove  of  that  wholesome  rule.  Money 
knows  nobody;  money  has  no  ears;  money  has  no  heart.  It 
is  a  cold  winter,  and  here  is  firewood  dearer  again.  If  you 
do  not  pay  on  the  i5th,  you  will  receive  a  little  summons  by 
noon  on  the  i6th.  Pshaw!  old  Mitral,  who  serves  your  pro- 
cesses, acts  for  me  too ;  he  will  send  you  your  summons  in  an 
envelope,  with  due  regard  for  your  high  position." 

"A  writ  has  never  yet  been  served  on  me,  sir,"  said  Birot- 
teau. 

"Everything  must  have  a  beginning,"  retorted  Molineux. 

The  perfumer  was  taken  aback  by  the  little  old  man's  frank 
ferocity ;  the  knell  of  credit  rang  in  his  ears ;  and  every  fresh 
stroke  awoke  memories  of  his  own  sayings  as  to  bankruptcies, 
prompted  by  his  remorseless  jurisprudence.  Those  opinions 
of  his  seemed  to  be  traced  in  letters  of  fire  on  the  soft  sub- 
stance of  his  brain. 

"  By-the-by,"  Molineux  was  saying,  "  you  forgot  to  write 
'  For  value  received  in  rent '  across  your  bills  ;  that  might 
give  me  a  preferential  claim." 

"  My  position  forbids  me  to  do  anything  to  the  prejudice 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  261 

of  my  creditors,"  said  Birotteau,  dazed  by  that  glimpse  into 
the  gulf  before  him. 

"  Good,  sir,  very  good.  I  thought  that  I  had  nothing  left 
to  learn  in  my  dealings  with  messieurs  my  tenants.  You  have 
taught  me  never  to  take  bills  in  payment.  Oh  !  I  will  take 
the  thing  into  court,  for  your  answer  as  good  as  tells  me  that 
you  will  not  meet  your  engagements.  The  case  touches  every 
landlord  in  Paris." 

Birotteau  went  out,  sick  of  life.  Feeble  and  tender  natures 
lose  heart  at  the  first  rebuff,  just  as  a  first  success  puts  courage 
into  them.  Cesar's  only  hope  now  lay  in  little  Popinot's 
devotion  ;  his  thoughts  naturally  turned  to  him  as  he  passed 
the  Marche  des  Innocents. 

"  Poor  boy  !  who  would  have  told  me  this  when  I  started 
him  six  weeks  ago  at  the  Tuileries !  " 

It  was  nearly  four  o'clock,  the  time  when  the  magistrates 
leave  the  palais.  As  it  fell  out,  the  elder  Popinot  had  gone 
to  see  his  nephew.  The  examining  magistrate,  who  in  moral 
questions  had  a  kind  of  second-sight  which  laid  bare  the 
secret  motives  of  others,  who  discerned  the  underlying  signifi- 
cance of  the  most  commonplace  actions  of  daily  life,  the 
germs  of  crime,  the  roots  of  a  misdemeanor,  was  watching 
Birotteau,  though  Birotteau  did  not  suspect  it.  Birotteau 
seemed  to  be  put  out  by  finding  the  uncle  with  the  nephew; 
the  perfumer's  manner  was  constrained,  he  was  preoccupied 
and  thoughtful.  Little  Popinot,  busy  as  usual  with  his  pen 
behind  his  ear,  always  fell  flat,  figuratively  speaking,  before 
Cesarine's  father.  Cesar's  meaningless  remarks  to  his  partner, 
to  the  judge's  thinking,  were  merely  screens,  some  important 
demand  was  about  to  be  made.  Instead  of  leaving  the  shop, 
therefore,  the  shrewd  man  of  law  stayed  with  his  nephew  in 
spite  of  his  nephew,  for  he  thought  that  Cesar  would  try  to 
get  rid  of  him  by  making  a  move  himself.  And  so  it  was. 
When  Birotteau  had  gone  the  judge  followed,  but  he  noticed 
Cesar  lounging  along  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants  in  the 


262  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

direction  of  the  Rue  Aubry-le-Boucher.  This  infinitely  small 
matter  bred  suspicion  in  the  mind  of  Popinot  the  elder ;  he 
mistrusted  Cesar's  intentions,  went  along  the  Rue  des  Lom- 
bards, watched  the  perfumer  go  back  to  Anselme's  shop,  and 
promptly  repaired  thither. 

"  My  dear  Popinot,"  Cesar  had  begun,  "I  have  come  to 
ask  you  to  do  me  a  service. ' ' 

"What  is  there  to  be  done?"  asked  Popinot,  with  gener- 
ous eagerness. 

"Ah!  you  give  me  life!"  cried  the  good  man,  rejoicing 
in  this  warmth  from  the  heart  that  sent  a  glow  through  him 
after  those  twenty-five  days  of  glacial  cold.  "  It  is  this,  to 
allow  me  to  draw  a  bill  on  you  on  account  of  my  share  of  the 
profits;  we  will  settle  between  ourselves." 

Popinot  looked  steadily  at  Cesar ;  Cesar  lowered  his  eyes. 
Just  at  that  moment  the  magistrate  reappeared. 

"  My  boy — Oh  !  I  beg  your  pardon,  Monsieur  Birotteau — 

my  boy,  I  forgot  to  say  that "  and  with  the  imperative 

gesture  learned  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession,  the  elder 
Popinot  drew  his  nephew  out  into  the  street  and  marched 
him,  bareheaded  and  in  shirt-sleeves  as  he  was,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Rue  des  Lombards. 

"Your  old  master  will  very  likely  find  himself  in  such 
straits  that  he  may  be  forced  to  file  his  schedule,  nephew. 
Before  a  man  comes  to  that,  a  man  who,  may  be,  has  a  record 
of  forty  years  of  upright  dealing,  nay  the  very  best  of  men, 
in  his  anxiety  to  save  his  honor,  will  behave  like  the  most 
frantic  gambler.  Men  in  that  predicament  will  do  anything. 
They  will  sell  their  wives  and  traffic  in  their  daughters ;  they 
will  bring  their  best  friends  into  the  scrape  and  pawn  property 
which  is  not  theirs;  they  will  go  to  the  gaming-table,  turn 
actors — nay,  liars ;  they  will  shed  tears  at  need.  In  short,  I 
have  known  them  do  the  most  extraordinary  things.  You 
yourself  know  how  good-natured  Roguin  was,  a  man  who 
looked  as  though  butter  would  not  melt  in  his  mouth.  I  do 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  263 

not  press  these  conclusions  home  in  Monsieur  Birotteau's 
case;  I  believe  that  he  is  honest;  but  if  he  should  ask  you  to 
do  anything  at  all  irregular,  no  matter  what  it  is;  if  he  should 
want  you,  for  instance,  to  accept  accommodation  bills  and  so 
start  you  in  a  system  which,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  is  the 
beginning  of  all  sorts  of  rascality  (for  it  is  counterfeit  paper- 
money),  promise  me  that  you  will  sign  nothing  without  first 
consulting  me.  You  must  remember  that  if  you  love  his 
daughter,  even  for  your  own  sake  and  hers,  you  must  not  spoil 
your  future.  If  Monsieur  Birotteau  must  come  to  grief,  what 
is  the  use  of  going  with  him  ?  What  is  it  but  cutting  your- 
selves off  from  all  chance  of  escape  through  your  business, 
which  will  be  his  refuge?" 

"Thank  you,  uncle;  a  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient,"  said 
Anselme;  his  uncle's  words  explained  that  heartrending  cry 
from  his  master. 

The  merchant  who  dealt  in  druggists'  oils  and  sundries 
looked  thoughtful  as  he  entered  his  dark  store.  Birotteau 
saw  the  change. 

"Will  you  honor  me  by  coming  up  to  my  room?  we  can 
talk  more  at  our  ease  there  than  here.  The  assistants,  busy  as 
they  are,  might  overhear  us." 

Birotteau  followed  Popinot,  a  victim  to  such  cruel  suspense 
as  the  condemned  man  knows,  while  he  waits  for  a  reprieve 
or  the  rejection  of  his  appeal. 

"My  dear  benefactor,"  Anselme  began,  "you  do  not 
doubt  my  devotion  ;  it  is  blind.  Permit  me  to  ask  but  one 
thing,  will  this  sum  of  money  save  you  once  and  for  all  ?  Or 
will  it  merely  put  off  some  catastrophe?  in  which  case,  what 
is  the  use  of  carrying  me  with  you  ?  You  want  bills  at  ninety 
days.  Very  well,  but  I  am  sure  that  I  myself  shall  not  be  able 
to  meet  them  in  three  months'  time." 

Birotteau,  white  and  grave,  rose  to  his  feet,  and  looked  into 
Popinot's  face. 

Popinot,  in  alarm,  cried,  "I  will  do  it  if  you  wish  it." 


264  CESAR  B1RO1TEAU. 

"Ungrateful  boy!"  cried  the  perfumer,  gathering  all  his 
strength  to  hurl  at  Anselme  the  words  which  should  brand  him 
as  infamous. 

Birotteau  walked  to  the  door  and  went.  Popinot,  recover- 
ing from  the  sensation  which  the  terrible  words  had  produced 
in  him,  darted  downstairs  and  rushed  into  the  street,  but  saw 
no  sign  of  the  perfumer.  The  dreadful  words  of  doom  rang 
in  the  ears  of  Cesarine's  lover,  poor  Cesar's  face  of  anguish 
was  always  before  his  eyes;  he  lived,  indeed,  like  Hamlet, 
haunted  by  a  ghastly  spectre. 

Birotteau  staggered  along  the  streets  like  a  drunken  man. 
He  found  himself  at  last  on  the  quay,  and  followed  its  course 
to  Sevres,  where  he  spent  the  night  in  an  inn,  stupefied  with 
sorrow;  and  his  frightened  wife  dared  not  make  any  inquiries 
for  him.  Under  such  circumstances  it  is  fatal  to  give  the 
alarm  rashly.  Constance  wisely  immolated  her  anxiety  to  her 
husband's  business  reputation ;  she  sat  up  all  night  for  him, 
mingling  prayers  with  her  fears.  Was  Cesar  dead  ?  Had  he 
left  Paris  in  the  pursuit  of  some  last  hope  ?  When  morning 
came  she  behaved  as  though  she  knew  the  cause  of  his  ab- 
sence; but  when  at  five  o'clock  C6sar  had  not  returned,  she 
sent  word  to  her  uncle  and  begged  him  to  go  to  the  morgue. 
All  through  that  day  the  brave  woman  sat  at  her  desk,  her 
daughter  doing  her  embroidery  by  her  side,  and,  neither  sad 
nor  smiling,  both  confronted  the  public  with  quiet  faces. 

When  Pillerault  came,  he  brought  C£sar  with  him  ;  he  had 
met  his  niece's  husband  after  'Change  in  the  Palais  Royal, 
hesitating  to  enter  a  gaming-house.  That  day  was  the  i4th. 

C£sar  could  eat  nothing  at  dinner.  His  stomach,  too  vio- 
lently contracted,  rejected  food.  It  was  a  miserable  meal ; 
but  it  was  not  so  bad  as  the  evening  that  came  after  it.  For 
the  hundredth  time,  the  merchant  experienced  one  of  the 
hideous  alternations  of  despair  and  hope  which  wear  out  weak 
natures,  when  the  soul  passes  through  the  whole  scale  of  sen- 
sations, from  the  highest  pitch  of  joy  to  the  lowest  depths  of  de- 


CESAR  BIKOTTEAU.  265 

spair.  Derville,  the  consulting  barrister,  rushed  into  the  splen- 
did drawing-room.  Mme.  Cesar  had  done  everything  in  her 
power  to  keep  her  poor  husband  there;  he  had  wanted  to  sleep 
in  the  attic,  "so  as  not  to  see  the  monuments  of  my  folly," 
he  said. 

"  We  have  gained  the  day  !  "  cried  Derville. 

At'those  words  the  lines  in  Cesar's  face  were  smoothed  out, 
but  his  joy  alarmed  Pillerault  and  Derville.  The  two  fright- 
ened women  went  away  to  cry  in  Cesarine's  room. 

"  Now  I  can  borrow  on  the  property  !  "  exclaimed  the  per- 
fumer. 

"  It  would  not  be  wise  to  do  so,"  said  Derville ;  "  they  have 
given  notice  of  appeal,  the  Court-Royal  may  reverse  the  de- 
cision, but  we  shall  know  in  a  month's  time." 

1  'A  month  !  " 

Cesar  sank  into  a  lethargy,  from  which  no  one  attempted 
to  rouse  him.  This  species  of  intermittent  catalepsy,  during 
which  the  body  lives  and  suffers  while  the  action  of  the  mind 
is  suspended,  this  fortuitous  respite  from  mental  anguish,  was 
regarded  as  a  godsend  by  Constance,  Cesarine,  Pillerault,  and 
Derville — and  they  were  right.  In  this  way  Birotteau  was 
able  to  recover  from  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  night's  emotions. 
He  lay  in  a  low  chair  by  the  fireside ;  over  against  him  sat 
his  wife,  who  watched  him  closely,  with  a  sweet  smile  on  her 
lips — one  of  those  smiles  which  prove  that  women  are  nearer 
to  the  angels  than  men,  in  that  they  can  blend  infinite  ten- 
derness with  the  most  sincere  compassion,  a  secret  known 
only  to  the  angels  whose  presence  is  revealed  to  us  in  the 
dreams  providentially  scattered  at  long  intervals  in  the  course 
of  human  life.  Cesarine,  sitting  on  a  footstool  at  her 
mother's  feet,  now  and  again  bent  her  head  over  her  father's 
hands  and  brushed  them  lightly  with  her  hair,  as  if  by  this 
caress  she  would  fain  communicate  through  the  sense  of  touch 
the  thoughts  which  at  such  a  time  are  importunate  when  ren- 
dered by  articulate  speech. 


266  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Pillerault,  that  philosopher  prepared  for  every  emergency, 
sat  in  his  armchair,  like  the  statue  of  the  chancellor  of  the 
hopital  in  the  peristyle  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  wearing 
the  same  look  of  intelligence  which  is  stamped  on  the  features 
of  an  Egyptian  sphinx,  and  talked  in  a  low  voice  with  Der- 
ville.  Constance  had  recommended  that  the  lawyer,  whose 
discretion  was  above  suspicion,  should  be  consulted.  With 
the  schedule  already  drafted  in  her  mind,  she  laid  the  situation 
before  Derville  ;  and  after  an  hour's  consultation  or  there- 
about, held  in  the  presence  of  the  dozing  perfumer,  Derville 
looked  at  Pillerault  and  shook  his  head. 

"Madame,"  said  he,  with  the  pitiless  coolness  of  a  man 
of  business,  "  you  must  file  your  petition.  Suppose  that  by 
some  means  or  other  you  should  contrive  to  meet  your 
bills  to-morrow,  you  must  eventually  pay  at  least  three  thou- 
sand francs  before  you  can  borrow  on  the  whole  of  your  landed 
property.  To  your  liabilities,  amounting  to  five  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  francs,  you  oppose  assets  consisting  of  a  very 
valuable  and  very  promising  piece  of  property  which  cannot 
be  realized — you  must  give  up  in  a  given  time,  and  it  is  better, 
in  my  opinion,  to  jump  from  the  window  than  to  roll  down 
the  stairs." 

"I  am  of  that  opinion,  too,  my  child,"  said  Pillerault. 

Mme.  Cdsar  and  Pillerault  both  went  to  the  door  with  Der- 
ville. 

"Poor  father!  "  said  Cesarine,  rising  softly  to  put  a  kiss 
on  Cesar's  forehead.  "Then  could  Anselme  do  nothing?" 
she  asked,  when  her  mother  and  uncle  came  in  again. 

"The  ungrateful  boy!"  cried  Cesar.  The  name  had 
touched  the  one  sensitive  spot  in  his  memory,  like  the  string 
of  a  piano  resonant  to  the  stroke  of  the  hammer. 

Little  Popinot,  meanwhile,  since  those  words  had  been 
hurled  at  him  like  an  anathema,  had  not  had  a  moment's 
peace  nor  a  wink  of  sleep.  The  hapless  youth  called  down 
maledictions  on  his  uncle,  and  went  in  search  of  him.  To  in- 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  267 

duce  experience  and  legal  acumen  to  capitulate,  young  Popi- 
not  poured  forth  all  a  lover's  eloquence,  hoping  to  work  on 
the  feelings  of  a  judge,  but  his  words  slid  over  the  man  of 
law  like  water  over  oilcloth. 

"  Commercial  usage,"  pleaded  Anselme,  "  permits  a  sleep- 
ing partner  to  draw  to  a  certain  extent  upon  his  co-associate 
on  account  of  profits ;  and  in  our  partnership  we  ought  to 
put  it  in  practice.  After  looking  into  my  business  all  round, 
I  feel  sure  that  I  am  good  to  pay  forty  thousand  francs  in 
three  months'  time.  Birotteau's  honesty  permits  me  to  feel 
confident  that  he  will  use  the  forty  thousand  francs  to  meet 
his  bills.  So,  if  he  fails,  the  creditors  will  have  no  reason 
to  complain  of  this  action  on  our  part.  And,  beside,  uncle,  I 
would  rather  lose  forty  thousand  francs  than  give  up  Cesarine. 
At  this  moment,  while  I  am  speaking,  she  will  have  heard  of 
my  refusal  and  I  shall  be  lowered  in  her  eyes.  I  said  that  I 
would  give  my  life  for  my  benefactor  !  I  am  in  the  case  of 
the  young  sailor  who  must  go  to  the  bottom  with  his  captain 
or  the  soldier  who  is  bound  to  perish  with  his  general." 

"A  good  heart  and  a  bad  man  of  business;  you  will  not 
be  lowered  in  my  eyes,"  said  the  judge,  grasping  his  nephew's 
hand.  "  I  have  thought  a  good  deal  about  this,"  he  con- 
tinued;  "I  know  that  you  love  Cesarine  to  distraction;  I 
think  that  you  can  obey  the  laws  of  your  heart  without  break- 
ing the  laws  of  commerce." 

"  Oh  !  uncle,  if  you  have  found  out  a  way,  you  will  save 
my  honor." 

"  Lend  Birotteau  fifty  thousand  francs  on  his  proprietary 
interest  in  your  Oil ;  it  has  become,  as  it  were,  a  piece  of 
property  ;  I  will  draw  up  the  document  for  you." 

Anselme  embraced  his  uncle,  went  home,  made  out  bills 
for  fifty  thousand  francs,  and  ran  all  the  way  from  the  Rue 
des  Cinq-Diamants  to  the  Place  Vendome ;  so  that  at  the 
very  moment  when  Cesarine,  her  mother,  and  Pillerault  were 
gazing  at  the  perfumer,  amazed  by  the  sepulchral  tone  in 


268  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

which  the  words,  "  Ungrateful  boy  !  "  were  uttered  in  answer 
to  the  girl's  question,  the  drawing-room  door  opened  and 
Popinot  appeared. 

"  My  dearly  beloved  master,"  he  said,  wiping  the  perspi- 
ration from  his  forehead,  "  here  is  the  thing  for  which  you 
asked  me." 

He  held  out  the  bills. 

"  Yes.  I  have  thought  carefully  over  my  position ;  I  shall 
meet  them,  never  fear  !  Save  your  honor  !  " 

"I  was  quite  sure  of  him,"  cried  Cesarine,  grasping  Popi- 
not's  hand  convulsively. 

Mme.  Cesar  embraced  Popinot.  The  perfumer  rose  out  of 
his  chair,  like  the  righteous  at  the  sound  of  the  last  trump ; 
he  too  was  issuing  from  a  tomb.  Then  with  frenzied  eager- 
ness he  clutched  the  fifty  stamped  papers. 

"  One  moment !  "  cried  the  stern  Uncle  Pillerault,  snatch- 
ing up  Popinot's  bills.  "  One  moment !  " 

The  four  persons  composing  this  family  group — C6sar  and 
his  wife,  Cesarine  and  Popinot — bewildered  by  their  uncle's 
interposition  and  by  the  tone  in  which  he  spoke,  looked  on 
in  terror  while  he  tore  the  bills  to  pieces  and  flung  them  into 
the  fire,  where  they  blazed  up  before  any  one  of  them  could 
stop  him. 

"Uncle!" 

"  Uncle ! " 

"Uncle!" 

"Sir!" 

There  were  four  voices  and  four  hearts  in  one,  a  formidable 
unanimity.  Uncle  Pillerault  put  an  arm  around  little  Popinot, 
held  him  tightly  to  his  heart,  and  put  a  kiss  on  his  forehead. 

"You  deserve  to  be  adored  by  any  one  who  has  a  heart  at 
all,"  said  he.  "If  you  loved  my  daughter,  and  she  had  a 
million,  and  you  had  nothing  but  that"  (he  pointed  to  the 
blackened  scraps  of  paper),  "  you  should  marry  her  in  a  fort- 
night if  she  loved  you.  Your  master,"  indicating  Cesar,  "is 


CLSAR   BIROTTEAU.  269 

mad.  Now,  nephew,"  Pillerault  began  gravely,  addressing 
the  perfumer,  "  no  more  illusions  !  Business  must  be  carried 
on  with  hard  coin,  and  not  with  sentiments.  This  is  sublime, 
but  it  is  useless.  I  have  been  on  'Change  for  a  couple  of 
hours.  No  one  will  give  you  credit  for  two  centimes ;  every- 
body is  talking  about  your  disaster;  everybody  knows  that 
you  could  not  get  renewals,  that  you  went  to  more  than  one 
banker  and  that  they  would  have  nothing  to  say  to  you,  and 
all  your  other  follies ;  it  is  known  that  you  climbed  six  pairs 
of  stairs  to  ask  a  landlord  who  chatters  like  a  jackdaw  to 
renew  a  bill  for  twelve  hundred  francs ;  everybody  says  that 
you  gave  a  ball  to  hide  your  embarrassment.  They  will  say 
directly  that  you  had  no  money  deposited  with  Roguin. 
Roguin  is  a  blind,  according  to  your  enemies.  One  of  my 
friends,  commissioned  to  report  everything,  has  brought  con- 
firmation of  my  suspicions.  Every  one  expects  that  you  will 
try  to  put  Popinot's  bills  on  the  market ;  in  fact,  you  set  him 
up  on  purpose  to  tide  you  over  your  difficulties.  In  short,  all 
the  gossip  and  slander  usually  set  in  motion  by  any  man  who 
tries  to  mount  a  step  in  the  social  scale  is  going  the  round  of 
business  circles  at  this  moment.  You  would  spend  a  week  in 
hawking  Popinot's  bills  from  place  to  place,  you  would  meet 
with  humiliating  refusals,  and  nobody  would  have  anything  to 
do  with  them.  There  is  nothing  to  show  how  many  of  them 
you  are  issuing,  and  people  look  to  see  you  sacrificing  this 
poor  boy  to  save  yourself.  You  would  ruin  Popinot's  credit 
in  pure  waste.  Do  you  know  how  much  the  most  sanguine 
bill-discounter  would  give  you  for  your  fifty  thousand  francs? 
Twenty  thousand ;  twenty  thousand,  do  you  understand  ? 
There  are  times  in  business  when  you  must  contrive  to  hold 
out  for  three  days  without  food,  as  if  you  had  the  indigestion, 
and  the  fourth  brings  admission  to  the  pantry  of  credit.  You 
cannot  hold  out  for  the  three  days,  and  therein  lies  the  whole 
position.  But  take  heart,  my  poor  nephew,  you  must  file  your 
schedule.  Here  is  Popinot,  and  here  am  I  \  as  soon  as  your 


270  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

assistants  have  gone  to  bed  we  will  set  to  work  to  spare  you 
the  misery  of  it." 

"Uncle! "  cried  the  wretched  perfumer,  clasping  his 

hands. 

"  Cesar,  do  you  really  mean  to  arrive  at  a  fraudulent  bank- 
ruptcy with  assets  nil?  Your  interest  in  Popinot's  business 
saves  your  honor." 

This  last  fatal  light  thrown  on  his  position  made  it  clear 
to  Cesar ;  he  saw  the  full  extent  of  the  hideous  truth ;  he 
sank  down  into  his  low  chair,  and  then  on  to  his  knees; 
his  mind  wandered,  he  became  a  child  again.  His  wife 
thought  the  shock  had  killed  him  and  knelt  to  raise  him, 
but  she  clung  close  to  him  when  she  saw  him  clasp  his 
hands  and  raise  his  eyes;  and  in  spite  of  the  presence  of 
his  uncle,  his  daughter,  and  Popinot,  he  began  with  remorse- 
ful resignation  to  repeat  the  sublime  prayer  of  the  church 
on  earth — 

"  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be  Thy 
name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done  in  earth, 
as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread.  And 
forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive  them  that  trespass 
against  us.  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil.  Amen." 

Tears  filled  Pillerault's  stoical  eyes,  and  Cesarine  stood, 
white  and  rigid  as  marble,  with  her  tear-stained  face  hidden 
on  Anselme's  shoulder.  Then  the  old  merchant  took  the 
young  man's  arm,  "  Let  us  go  downstairs,"  he  said. 

At  half-past  eleven  they  left  Cesar  in  the  care  of  his 
wife  and  daughter.  Just  at  that  moment  Cdlestin,  who  had 
looked  after  the  business  during  this  storm,  came  upstairs 
and  opened  the  drawing-room  door.  Cesarine  heard  his 
footsteps  and  hurried  forward  to  place  herself  so  as  to  screen 
the  prostrate  master  of  the  house. 

"Among  this  evening's  letters,"  he  said,  "  there  was  one 
from  Tours,  the  direction  was  not  clear,  it  has  been  delayed. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  271 

I  thought  it  might  be  from  the  master's  brother,  so  I  did 
not  open  it." 

"Father,"  cried  Cesarine,  "there  is  a  letter  from  uncle 
at  Tours." 

"Ah!  I  am  saved!"  exclaimed  Cesar.  "My  brother! 
my  brother !  ' '  and  he  kissed  the  letter,  which  ran  thus : 

Francois  Birotteau  to  Cesar  Birotteau. 

"  TOURS,   1 7th. 

"  MY  BELOVED  BROTHER: — Your  letter  has  given  me  the 
keenest  distress;  and  so  when  I  had  read  it,  I  offered  up 
to  God  on  your  behalf  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  pray- 
ing Him,  by  the  blood  shed  for  us  by  our  divine  Redeemer, 
to  look  mercifully  upon  you  in  your  affliction.  And  now 
that  I  have  put  up  my  prayer  pro  meo  fratre  Ccesare,  my 
eyes  are  filled  with  tears  to  think  that  by  misfortune  I  am 
separated  from  you  at  a  time  when  you  must  need  the 
support  of  a  brother's  affection.  But  then  I  bethought  me 
that  the  worthy  and  venerated  M.  Pillerault  will  doubtless 
fill  my  place.  My  dear  Cesar,  in  the  midst  of  your  troubles, 
do  not  forget  that  this  life  of  ours  is  a  life  of  trial  and  a 
transition  state ;  that  one  day  we  shall  be  rewarded  if  we 
have  suffered  for  the  holy  name  of  God,  for  His  Holy  Church, 
for  putting  in  practice  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  or  for 
leading  a  virtuous  life  ;  if  it  were  not  so,  the  things  of  this 
present  world  would  be  unintelligible.  I  repeat  these  words, 
though  I  know  how  good  and  pious  you  are,  because  it  may 
happen  to  those  who,  like  you,  are  tossed  by  the  tempests  of 
this  world  and  launched  upon  the  perilous  seas  of  human  con- 
cerns, to  be  led  to  blaspheme  in  their  distresses,  distracted  as 
they  are  by  pain.  Do  not  curse  the  men  who  will  wound 
you,  nor  God,  who  mingles  bitterness  with  your  life  at  His 
will.  Look  not  on  the  earth,  but  rather  keep  your  eyes  lifted 
to  heaven  ;  thence  comes  comfort  for  the  weak,  the  riches  of 
the  poor  are  there,  and  the  fears  of  the  rich " 


272  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

"Oh,  Birotteau,"  interrupted  his  wife,  "just  miss  that  out 
and  see  if  he  is  sending  us  anything." 

"We  will  often  read  it  over,"  said  her  husband,  drying  his 
eyes.  He  opened  the  letter  and  a  draft  on  the  Treasury  fell 
out.  "I  was  quite  sure  of  him,  poor  brother,"  said  Birot- 
teau, picking  up  the  draft. 

"I  went  to  see  Mme.  de  Listomere,"  he  continued,  reading 
in  a  voice  choked  with  tears,  "  and  without  giving  a  reason 
for  my  request,  I  begged  her  to  lend  me  all  that  she  could 
spare,  so  as  to  swell  the  amount  of  my  savings.  Her  gen- 
erosity enables  me  to  make  up  the  sum  of  a  thousand  francs, 
which  I  send  you  in  the  form  of  a  draft  by  the  receiver- 
general  of  Tours  upon  the  Treasury. ' ' 

"A  handsome  advance!"  said  Constance,  looking  at 
C6sarine. 

"  By  retrenching  some  superfluities  in  my  way  of  living,  I 
shall  be  able  to  repay  Mme.  de  Listomere  the  money  I  have 
borrowed  of  her  in  three  years'  time ;  so  do  not  trouble  about 
it,  my  dear  Cesar.  I  am  sending  you  all  that  I  have  in  the 
world,  with  the  wish  that  the  sum  may  assist  you  to  bring 
your  difficulties  to  a  happy  termination  ;  doubtless  they  are 
but  momentary.  I  know  your  delicacy,  and  wish  to  anticipate 
your  scruples.  Do  not  dream  of  paying  any  interest  on  the 
amount,  nor  of  returning  it  in  the  day  of  prosperity,  which 
will  dawn  for  you  before  long,  if  God  deigns  to  grant  the 
petitions  which  I  make  daily  for  you.  After  your  last  letter, 
received  two  years  ago,  I  thought  that  you  were  rich,  and 
that  I  might  give  my  savings  to  the  poor;  but  now  all  that  I 
have  belongs  to  you.  When  you  have  weathered  this  passing 
squall,  keep  the  money  for  my  niece  Cesarine,  so  that  when 
she  is  established  in  life  she  may  spend  it  on  some  trifle  which 
will  remind  her  of  an  old  uncle  whose  hands  are  always 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  273 

raised  to  heaven  to  implore  God's  blessing  upon  her,  and  for 
all  those  who  shall  be  dear  to  her.  Bear  in  mind,  in  fact, 
dear  Cesar,  that  I  am  a  poor  priest,  living  by  the  grace  of 
God,  as  the  wild-birds  live  in  the  fields,  walking  quietly  in 
my  own  path,  striving  to  keep  the  commandments  of  our 
divine  Saviour,  and  consequently  needing  but  little.  So  do 
not  have  the  least  hesitation  in  your  difficult  position,  and 
think  of  me  as  one  who  loves  you  tenderly.  Our  excellent 
Abbe  Chapeloud  (to  whom  I  have  not  said  a  word  about  your 
strait)  knows  that  I  am  writing  to  you,  and  wishes  me  to  send 
the  most  kindly  messages  to  all  your  family,  with  wishes  for 
your  continued  prosperity.  May  God  vouchsafe  to  preserve 
you  and  your  wife  and  daughter  in  good  health ;  and  I  pray 
for  patience  to  you  all  and  courage  in  the  day  of  adversity. 

"  FRANCOIS  BIROTTEAU. 

"  Priest  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  Tours  and  Vicar  of  the 
Parish  Church  of  Saint-Gatien." 

"A  thousand  francs!  "  cried  Mme.  Birotteau,  in  vehement 
anger. 

"  Lock  it  up,"  C6sar  said  gravely ;  "  it  is  all  he  has.  Beside, 
it  belongs  to  our  Cesarine,  and  should  enable  us  to  live  with- 
out asking  anything  of  our  creditors." 

"And  then  they  will  believe  that  you  have  taken  away 
large  sums." 

"I  shall  show  them  his  letter." 

"  They  will  say  that  it  is  a  fraud." 

"  Oh  !  my  God  !  my  God  !  "  cried  Cesar,  appalled  at  this; 
"  I  have  often  thought  that  very  thing  of  poor  folk  who,  no 
doubt,  were  just  in  my  position." 

Mother  and  daughter  were  both  too  anxious  about  C£sar  to 
leave  him,  and  they  sewed  on  by  his  side.  There  was  a  deep 
silence.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  drawing-room 
door  was  softly  opened  and  Popinot  beckoned  to  Mme.  Cesar 


274  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

to  come  downstairs.  At  the  sight  of  his  niece,  who  had 
followed  him  into  the  store,  Uncle  Pillerault  took  off  his 
spectacles. 

"  There  is  hope  yet,  my  child,"  he  said ;  "all  is  not  over; 
but  your  husband  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  the  ups  and 
downs  of  this  business,  so  Popinot  and  I  will  try  to  arrange 
it.  Do  not  leave  the  store  to-morrow,  and  take  down  the 
names  of  all  the  holders  of  the  bills  ;  we  have  all  the  day  till 
four  o'clock.  This  is  my  idea :  There  is  nothing  to  fear  from 
Ragon  or  from  me.  Suppose  now  that  Roguin  had  paid  over 
to  the  vendors  the  hundred  thousand  francs  you  deposited 
with  him — in  that  case,  you  would  no  more  have  them  than 
you  have  them  to-day.  You  have  to  meet  bills  to  the  amount 
of  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  francs,  payable  to  Claparon's 
order ;  you  must  pay  them  anyhow,  so  it  is  not  Roguin's 
bankruptcy  which  is  ruining  you.  Now,  to  meet  your  liabili- 
ties, I  see  forty  thousand  francs  to  be  borrowed  sooner  or 
later  on  your  factory,  and  sixty  thousand  francs  in  Popinot's 
bills.  So  you  may  struggle  through  ;  for,  once  through,  you 
can  raise  money  on  that  building  land  by  the  Madeleine.  If 
your  principal  creditor  agrees  to  help  you,  I  shall  not  consider 
my  fortune  ;  I  will  sell  my  rentes;  I  shall  be  without  bread  ; 
Popinot  will  be  between  life  and  death  ;  and,  as  for  you,  you 
will  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  smallest  events.  But  the  Oil  will 
give  a  good  return,  no  doubt.  Popinot  and  I  have  been  con- 
sulting together ;  we  will  support  you  in  this  struggle.  Oh, 
I  will  eat  my  dry  bread  gaily,  if  success  dawns  on  the  hori- 
zon. But  everything  depends  on  Gigonnet  and  on  Claparon 
and  his  associates.  We  are  going  to  see  Gigonnet  between 
seven  and  eight,  Popinot  and  I,  and  then  we  shall  know  what 
to  make  of  their  intentions." 

Constance,  carried  away  by  her  feelings,  put  her  arms  about 
her  uncle,  and  could  not  speak  for  tears  and  sobs.  Neither 
Popinot  nor  Pillerault  could  know  that  Bidault,  alias  Gigon- 
net, and  Claparon  were  but  two  of  du  Tillet's  doubles,  and 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  275 

that  du  Tillet  had  set  his  heart  upon  reading  this  terrible 
paragraph  in  the  "  Gazette:  " 

"  Decree  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce.  M.  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  wholesale  perfumer,  of  397  Rue  Saint-Honore,  Paris, 
declared  a  bankrupt,  date  provisionally  fixed,  i6th  of  January, 
1819.  Registrar:  M.  Gobenheim-Keller.  Agent:  M.  Moli- 
neux." 

Anselme  and  Pillerault  studied  Cesar's  affairs  till  daylight 
came,  and  at  eight  o'clock  that  morning  the  two  heroic  com- 
rades, the  old  veteran  and  the  subaltern  of  yesterday,  neither 
of  whom  was  destined  to  experience  on  his  own  account  the 
dreadful  agony  of  mind  endured  by  those  who  go  up  and 
down  the  stairs  of  Bidault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  betook  them- 
selves without  a  word  to  the  Rue  Grenetat.  It  was  a  painful 
time  for  both  of  them.  More  than  once  Pillerault  passed  his 
hand  over  his  forehead. 

In  the  Rue  Grenetat  multifarious  small  trades  are  carried 
on  in  every  overcrowded  house.  Every  building  has  a  repul- 
sive aspect.  The  hideousness  of  these  houses  has  a  distinct 
quality  of  its  own,  in  which  the  mean  squalor  of  a  poor  indus- 
trial neighborhood  predominates. 

Old  Gigonnet  inhabited  the  fourth  floor  in  one  of  these 
houses.  All  the  windows,  with  their  dirty,  square  panes  of 
glass,  were  secured  to  the  frames  by  pivots,  and  tilted  to 
admit  the  air  ;  you  walked  straight  up  the  staircase  from  the 
street,  and  the  porter  lived  in  the  box  on  the  mezzanine  floor 
lighted  from  the  staircase.  Every  one  in  the  house,  except 
Gigonnet,  plied  some  handicraft  ;  workmen  came  and  went 
all  day  long.  Every  step  on  the  stairs,  where  filth  was  al- 
lowed to  accumulate,  was  plastered  over  with  a  coating  of 
mud,  hard  or  soft,  according  to  the  state  of  the  weather. 
Each  landing  on  this  fetid  stair  displayed  the  name  of  some 
craftsman  painted  in  gilt  letters  on  a  sheet  of  iron,  which  was 


276  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

painted  red  and  varnished,  and  some  sample  of  the  man's 
achievements  in  his  trade.  The  doors,  for  the  most  part, 
stood  ajar,  affording  glimpses  of  grotesque  combinations  of 
industry  and  domestic  life ;  the  sounds  which  issued  thence, 
snatches  of  song,  yells,  whistlings,  and  uncouth  growls  re- 
called the  noises  heard  at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  toward  four 
o'clock.  The  smartest  braces  for  the  trade  in  the  article  Paris 
were  being  made  in  a  loathsome  den  on  the  first  floor  ;  on 
the  second,  among  heaps  of  the  most  unsavory  litter,  the 
manufacture  of  the  dantiest  cardboard  boxes,  displayed  at 
the  New  Year  in  store  windows,  was  carried  on.  Gigonnet, 
who  was  worth  eighteen  hundred  thousand  francs,  lived  and 
died  on  the  fourth  floor  in  this  house.  Nothing  would  induce 
him  to  leave  it,  although  his  niece,  Mme.  Saillard,  offered 
him  rooms  in  a  mansion  in  the  Place  Royale. 

"Courage!"  said  Pillerault,  as  he  jerked  the  cord  of  the 
lever  bell-pull  that  hung  by  Gigonnet's  neat  gray-painted 
door. 

Gigonnet  himself  opened  it,  and  the  perfumer's  two  cham- 
pions in  the  lists  of  bankruptcy  went  through  a  formal,  chilly- 
looking  room,  with  curtainless  windows,  and  entered  a  second, 
where  all  three  seated  themselves. 

The  bill-discounter  took  up  his  position  before  a  grate  full 
of  ashes,  in  which  the  wood  maintained  a  stubborn  resistance 
to  the  flames.  The  sight  of  his  green  cardboard  cases  and 
the  monastic  austerity  of  the  office,  windy  as  a  cave,  sent  a 
cold  chill  through  Popinot.  His  dazed  eyes  wandered  over 
the  pattern  of  the  cheap  wall-paper — tricolor  flowers  on  a  bluish 
background — which  had  been  hung  some  five-and-twenty  years 
back ;  and  turned  from  that  depressing  sight  to  the  ornaments 
on  the  chimney-piece,  a  lyre-shaped  clock  and  oval  vases,  blue 
Sevres  ware,  handsomely  mounted  in  gilt  copper.  This  bit  of 
flotsam,  recovered  by  Gigonnet  from  the  wreck  of  Versailles, 
when  the  palace  was  sacked  by  the  populace,  came  from  a 
queen's  boudoir,  but  the  magnificent-looking  ornaments  were 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  277 

flanked  by  a  couple  of  wrought-iron  candlesticks  of  the  com- 
monest description,  a  harsh  contrast  which  continually  re- 
minded the  beholder  of  the  manner  in  which  their  owner  had 
come  by  those  royal  splendors. 

"  I  know  that  you  cannot  come  on  your  own  account,"  said 
Gigonnet,  "  but  for  the  great  Birotteau.  Well,  what  is  it,  my 
friends?" 

"I  know  that  you  have  nothing  to  learn,  so  we  will  be 
brief,"  said  Pillerault.  "  Have  you  his  bills  payable  to  Cla- 
paron  ?  ' ' 

"Yes." 

"Will  you  exchange  the  first  fifty  thousand  francs  that  will 
fall  due  for  bills  accepted  by  Monsieur  Popinot  here,  less  the 
discount,  of  course  ?  " 

Gigonnet  lifted  the  terrible  green  cap,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  born  with  him,  and  displayed  a  bald  butter-colored 
pate,  then  with  a  Voltairean  grin — 

"You  want  to  pay  me  in  oil  for  hair,"  he  remarked,  "and 
what  should  I  do  with  it  ?  " 

"When  you  joke,  it  is  time  for  us  to  take  ourselves  off," 
said  Pillerault. 

"You  speak  like  the  sensible  man  that  you  are,"  said 
Gigonnet,  with  a  flattering  smile. 

"  Very  well,  and  how  if  I  back  Monsieur  Popinot's  bills?  " 
asked  Pillerault,  making  a  final  effort. 

"You  are  as  good  as  gold  ingots,  Monsieur  Pillerault; 
but  I  have  no  use  for  gold  ingots,  all  that  I  want  is  current 
coin." 

Pillerault  and  Popinot  took  their  leave  and  went.  Even 
at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  Popinot's  knees  still  shook  under 
him. 

"  Is  he  a  man  ?  "  he  asked  of  Pillerault. 

"  People  say  so,"  answered  the  older  one.  "  Keep  this 
little  interview  always  in  mind,  Anselme  !  You  have  seen 
what  money-lending  is,  stripped  of  its  masquerade  and  palaver. 


278  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Some  unforeseen  event  turns  the  screw  upon  us,  and  we  are 
the  grapes  and  bill-discounters  the  barrels.  This  specula- 
tion in  building  land  is  a  good  piece  of  business,  no  doubt ; 
Gigonnet,  or  somebody  behind  him,  has  a  mind  to  cut  Cesar's 
throat  and  to  step  into  his  shoes.  That  is  all ;  there  is  no  help 
for  it  now.  And  this  is  what  comes  of  borrowing  money ; 
never  resort  to  it." 

It  had  been  a  dreadful  morning  for  Mme.  Birotteau.  For 
the  first  time  she  had  taken  the  addresses  of  those  who  came 
for  money,  and  had  sent  away  the  bank  collector  without 
paying  him ;  yet  the  brave  woman  was  glad  to  spare  her  hus- 
band these  humiliations.  Toward  eleven  o'clock  she  saw 
Pillerault  and  Anselme  returning;  she  had  been  expecting 
them  with  ever-increasing  anxiety,  and  now  she  read  her 
doom  in  their  faces.  There  was  no  help  for  it,  the  schedule 
must  be  filed. 

"  He  will  die  of  grief,"  said  the  poor  wife. 

"  I  could  wish  that  he  might,"  said  Pillerault  gravely;  "but 
he  is  so  devout  that,  as  things  stand,  his  director  the  Abb6 
Loraux  alone  can  save  him." 

Pillerault,  Popinot,  and  Constance  remained  below,  while 
one  of  the  assistants  went  for  the  Abbe  Loraux.  The  abb6 
should  prepare  Birotteau  for  the  schedule  which  Celestin  was 
copying  out  fair  for  his  master's  signature.  The  assistants 
were  in  despair ;  they  loved  their  employer.  At  four  o'clock 
the  good  priest  came.  Constance  told  him  all  the  details  of 
the  calamity  which  had  befallen  them,  and  the  abb6  went  up- 
stairs like  a  soldier  mounting  to  the  breach. 

"I  know  why  you  have  come,"  C6sar  exclaimed. 

"  My  son,"  said  the  priest,  "  your  sentiments  of  submission 
to  the  divine  will  have  long  been  known  to  me,  now  you  are 
called  upon  to  put  them  in  practice.  Keep  your  eyes  fixed 
ever  upon  the  cross,  contemplate  the  cross  without  ceasing, 
and  think  of  the  cup  of  humiliation  of  which  the  Saviour  of 
men  was  compelled  to  drink,  think  of  the  anguish  of  His 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  279 

passion,  and  thus  you  may  endure  the  mortifications  sent  to 
you  by  God " 

"My  brother,  the  abbe,  has  already  prepared  me,"  said 
Cesar,  holding  out  the  letter,  which  he  read  over  again,  to 
his  confessor. 

"You  have  a  good  brother,"  said  M.  Loraux,  "a  virtuous 
and  sweet-natured  wife,  and  a  loving  daughter,  two  real 
friends  in  your  uncle  and  dear  Anselme,  two  indulgent 
creditors  in  the  Ragons.  All  these  kind  hearts  will  pour 
balm  into  your  wounds  continually,  and  will  help  you  to 
carry  your  cross.  Promise  me  to  bear  yourself  with  a 
martyr's  courage  and  to  take  the  blow  without  wincing." 

The  abbe  coughed,  a  signal  to  Pillerault  in  the  next  room. 

"My  submission  is  unlimited,"  said  Cesar  calmly.  "Dis- 
grace has  come  upon  me ;  I  ought  only  to  think  of  making 
reparation." 

C6sarine  and  the  priest  were  both  very  much  surprised  by 
poor  Birotteau's  tone  and  look.  And  yet  nothing  was  more 
natural.  Every  man  bears  a  definitely  known  misfortune 
better  than  suspense  and  constant  alternations  of  excessive 
joy  at  one  moment,  followed  on  the  next  by  the  last  extremity 
of  anguish. 

"I  have  been  dreaming  for  twenty-two  years,"  he  said, 
"and  to-day  I  wake  to  find  myself  staff  in  hand  again." 
Cesar  had  once  more  become  the  Tourangeau  peasant. 

At  these  words  Pillerault  held  his  nephew  tightly  in  his 
arms.  Cesar  looked  up  and  saw  his  wife  and  C6lestin,  the 
latter  with  significant  documents  in  his  hands;  then  he 
glanced  calmly  round  the  group;  all  the  eyes  that  met  his 
were  sad  but  friendly. 

"  One  moment !  "  he  said,  and  unfastening  his  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  which  he  gave  to  the  Abbe  Loraux,  "you 
will  give  that  back  to  me  when  I  can  wear  it  without  a  blush. 
Celestin,"  he  continued,  turning  to  his  assistant,  "send  in 
my  resignation ;  I  am  no  longer  deputy-mayor.  The  abb6 


280  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

will  dictate  the  letter  to  you,  date  it  January  i4th,  and  send 
Raguet  with  it  to  Monsieur  de  la  Billardiere." 

Celestin  and  the  Abbe  Loraux  went  downstairs.  For 
nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour  perfect  silence  prevailed  in  Cesar's 
study.  Such  firmness  took  the  family  by  surprise.  Celestin 
and  the  abbe  came  back  again,  and  Cesar  signed  the  letter  of 
resignation ;  but  when  Pillerault  laid  the  schedule  before 
him  poor  Birotteau  could  not  repress  a  dreadful  nervous 
tremor. 

"  Oh,  God  !  have  mercy  upon  us  !  "  he  said,  as  he  signed 
the  terrible  instrument  and  handed  it  to  Celestin. 

Then  Anselme  Popinot  spoke,  and  a  gleam  of  light  crossed 
his  clouded  brow.  "  Monsieur  and  Madame,"  he  said,  "will 
you  grant  me  the  honor  of  mademoiselle's  hand  ?  " 

This  speech  brought  tears  into  the  eyes  of  all  who  heard  it ; 
Cesar  alone  rose  to  his  feet,  took  Anselme's  hand,  and  said 
in  a  hollow  voice,  but  with  dry  eyes,  "  My  boy,  you  shall 
never  marry  a  bankrupt's  daughter." 

Anselme  looked  Birotteau  steadily  in  the  face. 

"Will  you  promise,  sir,  in  the  presence  of  your  whole 
family,  to  consent  to  our  marriage,  if  mademoiselle  will  take 
me  for  her  husband,  on  the  day  when  you  shall  have  paid  all 
your  creditors  in  full?  " 

There  was  a  moment's  pause.  Every  one  felt  the  influence 
of  the  emotion  recorded  in  the  perfumer's  weary  face. 

"Yes,"  he  said  at  last. 

Anselme  stretched  out  his  hand  to  Cesarine  with  an  inde- 
scribable gesture ;  she  gave  him  hers,  and  he  kissed  it. 

"  Do  you  also  consent  ?  "  he  asked  her. 

"Yes,"  she  said. 

"So,  I'm  really  one  of  the  family.  I  have  a  right  to  in- 
terest myself  in  your  affairs,"  was  his  comment,  with  an 
enigmatical  look. 

Anselme  hurried  away  lest  he  should  betray  a  joy  in  too 
great  contrast  with  his  master's  trouble.  Anselme  was  not 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  281 

exactly  delighted  with  the  bankruptcy ;  but  so  absolute,  so 
egoistical  is  love,  that  Cesarine  herself  in  her  inmost  heart 
felt  a  glow  of  happiness  strangely  at  variance  with  her  bitter 
distress  of  mind. 

"  While  we  are  about  it,  let  us  strike  every  blow  at  once," 
said  Pillerault  in  Constance's  ear. 

An  involuntary  gesture,  a  sign  not  of  assent,  but  of  sorrow, 
was  Mme.  Birotteau's  answer. 

"What  do  you  mean  to  do,  nephew?"  said  Pillerault, 
turning  to  Cesar. 

"To  continue  the  business." 

"I  am  not  of  that  opinion,"  said  Pillerault.  "  Go  into 
liquidation,  let  your  assets  go  to  your  creditors  in  the  shape  of 
dividend,  and  go  out  of  business  altogether.  I  have  often 
thought  what  I  should  do  if  I  were  placed  in  a  similar  posi- 
tion. (Oh!  you  must  be  prepared  for  everything!  The 
merchant  who  does  not  contemplate  possible  insolvency  is 
like  a  general  who  does  not  lay  his  account  with  a  defeat ;  he 
is  only  half  a  merchant.)  I  myself  should  never  have  gone 
on  again.  What !  Be  compelled  to  blush  before  men  whom 
I  should  have  wronged,  to  endure  their  suspicious  looks  and 
unspoken  reproaches?  I  can  think  of  the  guillotine — in  one 
instant  all  is  over ;  but  to  carry  a  head  on  your  shoulders  to 
have  it  cut  off  daily  is  a  kind  of  torture  from  which  I  should 
escape.  Plenty  of  men  begin  again  as  though  nothing  had 
happened ;  so  much  the  better  for  them  ! — they  are  braver 
than  Claude-Joseph  Pillerault.  If  you  pay  your  way  (and  pay 
ready  money  you  must)  people  will  say  that  you  managed  to 
save  something  for  yourself;  and  if  you  have  not  a  halfpenny, 
you  will  never  recover.  'Tis  good-evening  to  you.  Surren- 
der your  assets,  let  them  sell  you  up,  and  do  something  else." 

"  But  what  ?  "  asked  Cesar. 

"Eh  !  try  for  a  place  under  the  Government,"  said  Piller- 
ault] "you  have  influence,  have  you  not?  There  are  the 
Due  and  Duchesse  de  Lenoncourt,  Madame  de  Mortsauf, 


282  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Monsieur  de  Vandenesse !  Write  to  them,  go  to  see  them, 
they  will  find  you  some  post  in  the  household,  with  a  thou- 
sand crowns  or  so  hanging  to  it ;  your  wife  will  earn  as  much 
again  ;  your  daughter,  perhaps,  may  do  the  same.  The  case 
is  not  desperate.  You  three  among  you  will  earn  something 
like  ten  thousand  francs  a  year.  In  ten  years'  time  you  will 
be  in  a  position  to  pay  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  for  you 
will  have  no  expenses  meanwhile  ;  your  womankind  shall  have 
fifteen  hundred  francs  from  me ;  and,  as  for  you,  we  shall  see." 

It  was  Constance,  and  not  Cesar,  who  pondered  these  wise 
words,  and  Pillerault  went  on  'Change.  At  that  time  stock- 
brokers used  to  congregate  in  a  provisional  structure  of  planks 
and  scaffolding,  a  large  circular  room,  with  an  entrance  in 
the  Rue  Feydeau.  The  perfumer's  failure  was  already  known 
and  had  created  a  sensation  in  high  commercial  circles,  for 
their  prevailing  politics  were  constitutional  at  that  time. 
Birotteau  was  a  conspicuous  personage,  and  envied  by  many. 
Merchants,  on  the  other  hand,  who  leaned  toward  Liberalism, 
regarded  Birotteau's  too  celebrated  ball  as  an  audacious  at- 
tempt to  trade  on  their  sentiments,  for  the  Opposition  were 
fain  to  monopolize  patriotism.  Royalists  were  allowed  to 
love  the  King,  but  the  love  of  their  country  was  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  the  Left,  the  Left  was  for  the  people ;  and  those 
in  power  had  no  right  to  rejoice  thus  vicariously  through  the 
administration,  in  a  national  event  which  the  Liberals  meant 
to  exploit  for  their  own  benefit.  For  which  reasons  the  fall 
of  a  Ministerialist  in  favor  at  Court,  of  an  incorrigible  Roy- 
alist who  had  insulted  Liberty  by  fighting  against  the  glorious 
French  Revolution  on  Vend6miaire  i3th,  set  all  tongues 
wagging  on  'Change,  and  was  received  with  almost  universal 
applause. 

Pillerault  wanted  to  know  what  was  being  said,  and  to  study 
public  opinion.  He  went  up  to  one  of  the  most  eager  groups ; 
du  Tillet,  Gobenheim-Keller,  Nucingen,  old  Guillaume  and 
his  son-in-law  Joseph  Lebas,  Claparon,  Gigonnet,  Mongenod, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  283 

Camusot,  Gobseck,  Adolphe  Keller,  Palma,  Chiffreville,  Mati- 
fat,  Grindot,  and  Lourdois  were  discussing  the  news. 

"Well,  well,  how  careful  one  had  need  to  be!"  said 
Gobenheim,  addressing  du  Tillet;  "my  brothers-in-law  all 
but  opened  an  account  with  Birotteau,  it  was  a  near  thing." 

"  I  am  let  in  for  ten  thousand  francs  myself,"  said  du  Tillet ; 
"  he  came  to  me  a  fortnight  ago  and  I  let  him  have  the  money 
on  his  bare  signature.  But  he  obliged  me  once,  and  I  shall 
lose  it  without  regret." 

"Your  nephew  is  like  the  rest,"  said  Lourdois,  addressing 
Pillerault.  "Gave  entertainments.  I  can  imagine  that  a 
rogue  might  try  to  throw  dust  in  your  eyes  to  induce  confi- 
dence ;  but  how  could  a  man  who  passed  for  the  cream  of 
honest  folk  descend  to  the  stale  mountebank's  trickery  that 
never  fails  to  catch  us?" 

"Like  leeches,"  commented  Gobseck. 

"  Only  trust  a  man  if  he  lives  in  a  den  like  Claparon,"  said 
Gigonnet. 

"Veil,"  said  the  stout  Baron  Nucingen,  for  du  Tillet's 
benefit,  "  you  haf  dried  to  blay  me  a  nice  drick,  sending 
Pirodot  to  me.  I  do  not  know,"  he  went .  on,  turning  to 
Gobenheim  the  manufacturer,  "why  he  did  not  send  rount  to 
me  for  vifty  tousend  vrancs ;  I  should  haf  led  him  haf  dem." 

"Oh!  not  you,  Monsieur  le  Baron,"  said  Joseph  Lebas. 
"  You  must  have  known  quite  well  that  the  bank  had  refused 
his  paper ;  you  were  on  the  Discount  Committee  which  de- 
clined it.  This  poor  man,  for  whom  I  still  feel  a  very  great 
respect,  fails  under  singular  circumstances " 

Pillerault  grasped  Joseph  Lebas'  hand. 

"It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  explain  how  the  thing  has 
happened,"  said  Mongenod,  "  except  by  the  theory  that  there 
is  some  one  behind  Gigonnet,  some  banker  whose  intention 
it  is  to  spoil  the  Madeleine  speculation." 

"The  thing  which  has  happened  to  him  always  happens  to 
people  who  go  out  of  their  own  line,"  said  Claparon,  inter- 


284  CESAR  BIRO'lTEAU. 

rupting  Mongenod.  "  If  he  had  brought  out  his  Cephalic  Oil 
himself,  instead  of  sending  up  the  price  of  building  lots  in 
Paris  by  rushing  into  land  speculation,  he  would  have  lost  his 
hundred  thousand  francs  through  Roguin,  but  he  would  not 
have  gone  bankrupt.  He  will  start  afresh  under  the  name  of 
Popinot." 

"Keep  an  eye  on  Popinot,"  said  Gigonnet. 

According  to  this  crowd  of  merchants,  Roguin  was  "  poor 
Roguin;"  the  perfumer  was  that  "unlucky  Birotteau."  A 
great  passion  seemed  to  excuse  the  one,  the  other  appeared 
the  more  to  blame  on  account  of  his  pretensions.  Gigonnet 
left  the  Exchange  and  took  the  Rue  Perrin-Gasselin  on  his 
way  home  to  the  Rue  Gren£tat.  He  looked  in  on  Mme. 
Madou,  the  dry-fruit  saleswoman. 

"Well,  old  lady,"  said  he,  with  his  cruel  good  humor, 
"  and  how  are  we  getting  on  in  our  way  of  business  ?  " 

"Middling,"  said  Mme.  Madou  respectfully,  and  she 
offered  the  money-lender  her  only  armchair  with  a  friendly 
officiousness  which  she  had  never  shown  to  any  one  else  but 
the  dear  departed. 

Mother  Madou,  who  would  fell  a  carman  with  a  blow  if  he 
were  refractory  or  carried  a  joke  too  far,  who  had  not  feared 
to  assist  at  the  storming  of  the  Tuileries  on  the  loth  of  Octo- 
ber, who  railed  at  her  best  customers  (for  that  matter,  she  was 
capable  of  heading  a  deputation  of  the  Dames  de  la  Halle, 
and  speaking  to  the  King  himself  without  a  tremor) — Ang6_ 
lique  Madou  received  Gigonnet  with  the  utmost  respect.  She 
was  helpless  in  his  presence  ;  she  winced  under  his  hard  eyes. 
It  will  be  a  long  while  yet  before  the  executioner  ceases  to  be 
a  terror  to  the  people,  and  Gigonnet  was  the  executioner  of 
the  small  traders.  The  man  who  sets  money  in  circulation  is 
more  looked  up  to  in  the  Great  Market  than  any  other  power  ; 
all  other  human  institutions  are  as  naught  compared  with  him. 
For  them  the  Commissaire  is  Justice  personified,  and  with  the 
Commissaire  they  of  the  Market  become  familiar.  But  the 


C£SAX  BIROTTEAU.  235 

sight  of  the  money-lender  intrenched  behind  his  green  card- 
board cases,  of  the  usurer  whom  they  implore  with  fear  in 
their  hearts,  dries  up  the  sources  of  wit,  parches  the  throat, 
and  abashes  the  bold  eyes ;  the  people  grow  respectful  in  his 
presence. 

"  Have  you  come  to  ask  something  of  me? "  said  she. 

"  A  mere  trifle ;  be  prepared  to  refund  the  amount  of  Birot- 
teau's  bills,  the  old  man  has  gone  bankrupt,  so  all  outstanding 
claims  must  be  sent  in  ;  I  shall  send  you  in  a  statement  to- 
morrow." 

The  pupils  of  Mme.  Madou's  eyes  first  contracted  like  the 
eyes  of  a  cat,  then  flames  leaped  forth  from  them. 

"  O  the  beggar  !  O  the  scamp  !  and  he  came  here  himself 
to  tell  me  that  he  was  deputy-mayor,  piling  on  his  lies.  The 
Lord  ha*  mercy  !  That's  just  the  way  with  business ;  there 
is  no  trusting  mayors  nowadays;  the  Government  cheats  us! 
You  wait,  I  will  have  the  money  out  of  them,  I  will " 

"  Eh  !  every  one  comes  out  of  this  sort  of  thing  the  best 
way  he  can,  my  little  dear !  "  said  Gigonnet,  lifting  one  leg 
with  the  precise  little  gesture  of  a  cat  picking  its  way  among 
puddles,  a  trick  to  which  he  owed  his  nickname.*  "  Some 
swells  have  been  let  in  who  mean  to  get  themselves  out  of  the 
scrape " 

"  Good  !  good  !  I  will  get  my  hazelnuts  out.  Marie 
Jeanne !  my  clogs  and  my  lamb's-wool  shawl.  Quick  !  or  I 
will  lend  you  a  clout  that  will  warm  your  cheeks." 

"That  will  make  it  hot  for  them  yonder  up  the  street," 
said  Gigonnet  to  himself,  as  he  rubbed  his  hands.  "  Du 
Tillet  will  be  satisfied  ;  there  will  be  a  scandal  in  the  quarter. 
What  that  poor  devil  of  a  perfumer  can  have  done  to  him,  I 
don't  know ;  for  my  own  part,  I  am  as  sorry  for  the  man  as 
fora  dog  with  a  broken  paw.  He  isn't  a  man ;  he  has  no 
fight  in  him." 

Mme.  Madou  broke  out  like  an  insurrection  in  the  Fau- 
*  Gigonnet,  from  Gigotter,  to  kick  the  legs  about. 


286  C&SAR   BIROTTEAU. 

bourg  Saint-Antoine  toward  seven  o'clock  that  evening,  and 
swept  to  the  luckless  Birotteau's  door,  which  she  opened  with 
unnecessary  violence,  for  her  walk  had  had  an  exciting  effect. 

"Brood  of  vermin,  I  must  have  my  money,  I  want  my 
money  !  You  give  me  my  money  !  or  I  will  have  sachets  and 
satin  gimcracks  and  fans  till  I  have  the  worth  of  my  two  thou- 
sand francs  !  A  mayor  robbing  the  people  !  Did  any  one 
ever  see  the  like?  If  you  don't  pay  me,  I  will  send  him  to 
jail ;  I  will  go  for  the  public  prosecutor  ;  I  will  put  the  whole 
posse  of  them  on  his  tracks  !  I  do  not  stir  from  here  without 
my  money,  in  fact." 

She  looked  as  if  she  would  open  the  glass-door  of  a  cup- 
board in  which  expensive  goods  were  kept. 

"The  Madou  is  about  helping  herself,"  said  Celestin  in  a 
low  voice  to  his  neighbor.  The  lady  overheard  the  remark, 
for  during  a  paroxysm  of  rage  the  senses  are  either  deadened 
or  preternaturally  alert,  according  to  the  temperament.  She 
bestowed  on  Celestin  the  most  vigorous  box  on  the  ear  ever 
given  and  received  in  a  perfumer's  store. 

"  Learn  to  respect  women,  my  cherub,"  quoth  she,  "  and 
not  to  bedraggle  the  names  of  the  people  you  rob." 

Mme.  Birotteau  came  forward  from  the  back-store.  Her 
husband  by  chance  was  also  there ;  in  spite  of  Pillerault  he 
chose  to  remain,  carrying  his  humility  and  obedience  to  the 
law  so  far  as  to  be  ready  to  submit  to  be  put  in  prison. 
"  Madame,"  said  Constance,  "for  heaven's  sake,  do  not  bring 
a  crowd  together  in  the  street." 

"Eh!  let  them  come  in,"  cried  the  saleswoman,  "I  will 
tell  them  about  it ;  it  will  make  them  laugh  !  Yes,  my  goods 
and  the  francs  I  made  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow  go  for  you  to 
give  balls.  You  go  dressed  like  a  queen  of  France,  forsooth, 
and  fleece  poor  lambs  like  me  for  the  wool !  Jesus  /  stolen 
goods  would  burn  my  shoulders,  I  know  !  I  have  nothing  but 
shoddy  on  my  carcase,  but  it  is  my  own  !  Bandits  and  thieves  ! 
my  money,  or " 


/    MUST   HAVE   MY    MONEY,    /    WAHT    MY 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  287 

She  pounced  upon  a  pretty  inlaid  case  full  of  costly  per- 
fumery. 

"Leave  it  alone,  madame,"  said  Cesar,  appearing  on  the 
scene ;  "  nothing  here  belongs  to  me,  it  is  all  the  property  of 
my  creditors.  I  have  nothing  left  but  myself;  and  if  you  have 
a  mind  to  seize  me  and  put  me  in  jail,  I  give  you  my  word  of 
honor"  (a  tear  overflowed  his  eyes  at  this)  "that  I  will 
wait  here  for  your  process-server,  police-officer,  and  bailiffs 
men." 

From  his  tone  and  gesture,  he  evidently  meant  to  do  as  he 
said  ;  Mme.  Madou's  anger  died  down. 

"A  notary  has  absconded  with  my  money,  and  the  disasters 
which  I  cause  come  through  no  fault  of  mine,"  Cesar  went 
on;  "but  in  time  you  shall  be  paid,  if  I  have  to  work 
myself  to  death  and  earn  the  money  by  my  hands  as  a  market- 
porter." 

"Come,  you  are  a  good  man,"  said  the  market-woman. 
"  Excuse  my  speaking,  madame  ;  but  I  shall  have  to  fling 
myself  into  the  river,  for  Gigonnet  will  be  down  upon  me,  and 
I  have  nothing  but  bills  at  ten  months  to  give  for  your  cursed 
paper. ' ' 

"  Come  round  and  see  me  to-morrow  morning,"  said  Pille- 
rault,  coming  forward ;  "  I  will  arrange  the  business  for  you  at 
five  per  cent,  with  a  friend  of  mine." 

"Well!  that  is  good  Father  Pillerault !  Why,  yes,  he  is 
your  uncle,"  she  went  on,  turning  to  Constance.  "Come, 
now,  you  are  honest  folk;  I  shall  not  lose  anything,  shall  I? 
Good-by  till  to-morrow,  old  Brutus,"  she  added,  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  retired  hardware  merchant. 

Cesar  insisted  on  remaining  amid  the  ruins  of  his  glory  and 
would  hear  of  no  other  course ;  he  said  that  by  so  doing  he 
could  explain  his  position  to  all  his  creditors.  In  this  deter- 
mination Uncle  Pillerault  upheld  Cesar  in  spite  of  the  entreaties 
of  his  niece.  Cesar  was  persuaded  to  go  upstairs,  and  then 
the  wily  old  man  hurried  to  M.  Haudry,  put  Cedar's  case 


288  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

before  him,  obtained  a  prescription  for  a  sleeping-draught,  had 
it  made  up,  and  went  back  to  spend  the  evening  in  his  nephew's 
house.  With  Cesarine's  assistance  he  constrained  Cesar  to 
drink  as  they  did  ;  the  narcotic  did  its  work ;  and  fourteen 
hours  later  Birotteau  awoke  to  find  himself  in  Pillerault's  own 
bedroom  in  the  Rue  des  Bourdonnais,  a  prisoner  in  the  house 
of  his  uncle,  who  slept  on  a  camp  bedstead  put  up  in  the 
sitting-room. 

When  Pillerault  had  put  Cesar  into  the  cab,  and  Constance 
had  heard  it  roll  away,  then  her  courage  failed  her.  Our 
strength  is  often  called  forth  by  the  necessity  of  sustaining 
some  one  weaker  than  ourselves ;  and  the  poor  woman,  now 
that  she  was  left  alone  with  her  daughter,  wept  as  she  would 
have  wept  for  Cesar  if  he  had  been  lying  dead. 

"Mamma,"  said  Cesarine,  seating  herself  on  her  mother's 
knee,  with  the  gracious  kitten-like  ways  that  women  only 
display  for  each  other,  "you  said  that  if  I  bore  my  part 
bravely,  you  would  be  able  to  face  adversity.  So  do  not 
cry,  mother  dear.  I  am  ready  to  work  in  a  store;  I  will 
forget  what  we  have  been  ;  I  will  be  a  forewoman,  as  you  were 
when  you  were  a  girl ;  you  shall  never  hear  a  regret  or  a  com- 
plaint from  me.  And  I  have  a  hope.  Did  you  not  hear 
Monsieur  Popinot  ?" 

"  Dear  boy  !  he  shall  not  be  my  son-in-law." 

"Oh!  mamma " 

"  He  will  be  my  own  son." 

"There  is  this  one  good  thing  about  trouble,  it  teaches  us 
to  know  our  real  friends,"  said  Cesarine;  and,  changing 
places  with  her  mother,  she  at  last  comforted  her  and  soothed 
the  poor  woman's  grief. 

The  next  morning  Constance  left  a  note  for  the  Due  de 
Lenoncourt,  one  of  the  first  gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber. 
She  asked  for  an  interview  at  a  certain  hour.  Meanwhile, 
she  went  to  M.  dela  Billardiere,  told  him  of  the  predicament 
in  which  Cesar  found  himself  in  consequence  of  Roguin's 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  289 

flight  from  the  country,  and  begged  the  mayor  to  give  her 
his  support  with  the  Duke  and  to  speak  for  her,  for  she 
feared  that  she  might  express  herself  ill.  She  wanted  some 
post  for  Birotteau.  Birotteau  would  be  the  most  honest  of 
cashiers,  if  there  are  degrees  in  the  quality  of  honesty. 

"The  King  has  just  appointed  the  Comte  de  Fontaine  as 
comptroller-general  of  the  royal  household ;  there  is  no  time 
to  be  lost." 

At  two  o'clock  La  Billardiere  and  Mme.  Cesar  ascended 
the  great  staircase  of  the  Hotel  de  Lenoncourt  in  the  Rue 
Saint-Dominique,  and  were  brought  into  the  presence  of  one 
of  the  nobles  highest  in  the  King's  favor,  in  so  far  as  Louis 
XVIII.  could  be  said  to  have  preferences.  The  gracious 
reception  accorded  to  her  by  a  great  noble,  one  of  the  little 
group  who  formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  eighteenth- 
century  noblesse  and  those  of  the  nineteenth,  put  hope  into 
Mme.  Cesar.  The  perfumer's  wife  was  great  and  simple  in 
her  sorrow ;  sorrow  ennobles  the  most  commonplace  natures, 
for  it  has  a  grandeur  of  its  own,  but  only  those  who  are  true 
and  sincere  can  take  its  polish.  Constance  was  essentially 
sincere.  It  was  a  question  of  prompt  application  to  the 
King. 

In  the  midst  of  the  discussion,  M.  de  Vandenesse  was 
announced. 

"  Here  is  your  deliverer,"  exclaimed  the  Duke. 

Mme.  Birotteau  was  not  unknown  to  the  young  man,  who 
had  been  once  or  twice  to  the  perfumer's  store  for  those  trifles 
which  are  as  often  of  as  much  importance  as  great  things. 
The  Duke  explained  La  Billardiere's  views ;  and,  when  Van- 
denesse learned  the  disasters,  he  went  immediately  with  La 
Billardiere  to  see  the  Comte  de  Fontaine  on  behalf  of  the 
Marquise  d'Uxelles'  godson.  Mme.  Birotteau  was  asked  to 
await  the  result. 

M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine,  like  La  Billardiere,  was  one  of 
the  provincial  noblesse,  the  almost  unknown  heroes  of  La 
19 


290  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

Vendee.  Birotteau  was  no  stranger  to  him,  for  he  had  seen 
the  perfumer  at  the  Queen  of  Roses  in  former  days.  At  that 
time,  those  who  had  shed  their  blood  for  the  Royalist  cause 
enjoyed  privileges,  which  the  King  kept  secret  for  fear  of 
hurting  Liberal  susceptibilities,  and  M.  de  Fontaine,  one  of 
the  King's  favorites,  was  supposed  to  be  in  the  confidence  of 
Louis  XVIII.  Not  only  did  this  influential  person  definitely 
promise  to  obtain  a  post  for  the  perfumer,  but  he  went  to  the 
Due  de  Lenoncourt,  then  in  attendance,  to  ask  him  for  a 
moment's  speech  with  the  King  that  evening,  and  to  entreat 
for  La  Billardiere  an  audience  with  Monsieur  the  King's 
brother,  who  had  a  particular  regard  for  the  old  Vendean. 

That  very  evening  M.  le  Comte  de  Fontaine  came  from  the 
Tuileries  to  inform  Mme.  Birotteau  that,  as  soon  as  her  hus- 
band had  received  his  discharge,  he  would  be  appointed  to  a 
post  worth  two  thousand  five  hundred  francs  per  annum  in 
the  Sinking  Fund  Department,  all  places  in  the  household 
being  at  that  time  filled  with  noble  supernumeraries  to  whom 
the  Royalist  family  were  bound. 

This  success  was  but  a  part  of  the  task  undertaken  by  Mme. 
Birotteau.  The  poor  woman  went  to  Joseph  Lebas  at  the 
sign  of  the  Cat  and  Racket  in  the  Rue  Saint-Denis.  On  the 
way  thither  she  met  Mme.  Roguin  in  her  showy  carriage, 
doubtless  on  a  shopping  expedition.  Their  eyes  met,  and  the 
visible  confusion  on  the  beautiful  face  of  the  notary's  wife,  at 
this  meeting  with  the  woman  who  had  been  brought  to  ruin, 
gave  Constance  courage. 

"  Never  will  I  drive  in  a  carriage  paid  for  with  other  peo- 
ple's money,"  said  she  to  herself. 

Welcomed  by  Joseph  Lebas,  she  asked  him  to  look  for  a 
situation  for  her  daughter  in  some  respectable  house  of  business. 
Lebas  made  no  promises,  but  a  week  later  it  was  arranged  that 
Cesarine  should  be  placed  in  a  branch  of  one  of  the  largest 
dry  goods  establishments  in  Paris,  which  had  just  been  opened 
in  the  Quartier  des  Italiens.  She  was  to  live  in  the  house, 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  291 

and  to  take  charge  of  the  store  and  counting-room,  with  a 
salary  of  three  thousand  francs.  She  would  represent  the 
master  and  mistress,  and  the  forewoman  was  to  act  under  her 
orders. 

As  for  Mme.  Cesar  herself,  she  went  on  the  same  day  to 
ask  Popinot  to  allow  her  to  take  charge  of  the  books,  the  cor- 
respondence, and  the  household.  Popinot  knew  well  that  this 
was  the  one  commercial  house  in  which  the  perfumer's  wife 
might  take  a  subordinate  position  and  still  receive  the  respect 
due  her.  The  noble-hearted  boy  installed  her  in  his  house, 
gave  her  a  salary  of  three  thousand  francs,  arranged  to  give 
his  own  room  to  her,  and  went  up  into  the  attic.  And  so  it 
came  to  pass  that  the  beautiful  woman,  after  one  short  month 
spent  amid  novel  splendors,  was  compelled  to  take  up  her 
abode  in  the  poor  room  where  Gaudissart,  Anselme,  and 
Finot  had  inaugurated  the  Cephalic  Oil. 

The  Tribunal  of  Commerce  had  appointed  Molineux  as 
agent,  and  he  came  to  take  formal  possession  of  Cesar's  prop- 
erty. Constance,  with  Celestin's  help,  went  through  the  in- 
ventory with  him ;  and  then  mother  and  daughter  went  to 
stay  with  Pillerault.  They  went  out  on  foot  and  simply 
dressed,  and  without  turning  their  heads,  and  this  was  their 
leave-taking  of  the  house  in  which  they  had  spent  the  third 
part  of  a  lifetime.  Silently  they  walked  to  the  Rue  des  Bour- 
donnais,  and  dined  with  Cesar,  for  the  first  time  since  their 
separation.  It  was  a  melancholy  dinner.  They  had  each 
had  time  to  think  over  the  position,  to  weigh  the  burden  laid 
upon  them,  to  estimate  their  courage.  All  three  were  like 
sailors,  prepared  to  face  the  coming  tempest  without  blinking 
the  danger.  Birotteau  took  heart  again  when  he  heard  that 
great  personages  had  interested  themselves  for  him  and  pro- 
vided for  his  future  ;  but  he  broke  down  when  he  heard  of 
the  arrangement  which  had  been  made  for  his  daughter. 
Then  hearing  how  bravely  his  wife  had  begun  to  work  again, 
he  held  out  his  hand  to  her. 


292  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

Tears  filled  Pillerault's  eyes  for  the  last  time  in  his  life  at 
the  sight  of  this  pathetic  picture  of  the  father,  mother,  and 
daughter  united  in  one  embrace;  while  Birotteau,  the  most 
helpless  and  downcast  of  the  three,  held  up  his  hand  and  cried, 
"We  must  hope!  " 

"To  save  expense,  you  must  live  here  with  me;  you  shall 
have  my  room  and  share  my  bread.  For  a  long  time  past  I 
have  been  tired  of  living  alone ;  you  will  take  the  place  of 
that  poor  boy  I  lost.  And  it  will  only  be  a  step  from  here  to 
your  office  in  the  Rue  d'Oratoire." 

"Merciful  God!"  cried  Birotteau.  "There  is  a  star  to 
guide  me  when  the  storm  is  at  its  height." 

By  resignation  to  his  fate,  the  victim  of  a  misfortune  con- 
sumes his  misfortune.  Birotteau  could  fall  no  further;  he 
had  accepted  the  position,  he  became  strong  again. 

In  France,  when  a  merchant  has  filed  his  petition,  the  only 
thing  he  need  trouble  himself  to  do  is  to  retreat  to  some  oasis 
at  home  or  abroad  where  he  may  passively  exist  like  the  child 
that  he  is  in  the  eye  of  the  law;  theoretically  he  is  a  minor, 
and  incapable  of  acting  in  any  capacity  as  a  citizen.*  Prac- 
tically, however,  he  is  by  no  means  a  nullity.  He  does  not, 
indeed,  show  his  face  until  he  receives  a  "certificate  of  im- 
munity from  arrest  "  (which  no  registrar  nor  creditor  has  been 
known  to  refuse),  for  if  he  is  found  at  large  without  it  he  is 
liable  to  be  put  in  prison  ;  but  once  provided  with  his  safe- 
conduct,  his  flag  of  truce,  he  can  take  a  stroll  through  the 
enemy's  camp,  not  from  idle  curiosity,  but  to  counteract  and 
thwart  the  evil  intentions  of  the  law  with  regard  to  bankrupts. 

A  prodigious  development  of  perverse  ingenuity  is  the 
direct  result  of  any  law  which  touches  private  interests.  The 

*  In  France  a  bankrupt  loses  his  civil  and  political  status  ;  he  recovers 
the  right  of  administering  his  own  affairs  after  his  discharge  ;  but  the  dis- 
abilities are  only  removed  by  rehabilitation.  This  is  an  order  granted  by 
the  court  when  it  is  proved  that  the  bankrupt  has  paid  debts  and  costs  in 
full. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  293 

one  thought  of  a  bankrupt,  as  of  everybody  else  who  finds  his 
purposes  crossed  in  any  way  by  the  law  of  the  land,  is  how  to 
evade  it.  The  period  of  civil  death,  during  which  time  a 
bankrupt  must  be  considered  as  a  kind  of  commercial  chrysalis, 
lasts  for  three  months  or  thereabouts,  the  interval  required  for 
the  formalities  which  must  be  gone  through  before  creditors 
and  debtor  sign  a  treaty  of  peace,  otherwise  known  as  a  con- 
cordat, a  word  which  indicates  very  clearly  that  concord  reigns 
after  the  storm  raised  by  the  clashing  of  various  interests  which 
run  counter  to  one  another. 

Directly  the  schedule  is  deposited,  the  Tribunal  of  Com- 
merce appoints  a  registrar  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the 
throng  of  unascertained  creditors  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  to  protect  the  bankrupt  from  the  vexatious  importunities 
and  inroads  of  infuriated  creditors,  a  double  part  which  pre- 
sents magnificent  possibilities  if  registrars  had  but  time  to 
develop  them.  The  registrar  authorizes  an  agent  by  procura- 
tion to  take  formal  possession  of  the  bankrupt's  property, 
bills,  and  effects,  and  the  agent  checks  the  statement  of  assets 
in  the  schedule ;  lastly,  the  clerk  of  the  court  convenes  a 
meeting  of  creditors,  by  tuck  of  drum  ;  that  is  to  say,  by  adver- 
tisements in  the  newspapers.  The  creditors,  genuine  or  other- 
wise, are  called  upon  to  assemble  and  agree  among  themselves 
to  appoint  provisional  trustees,  who  shall  replace  the  agent, 
step  into  the  bankrupt's  shoes,  and,  by  a  legal  fiction,  become 
indeed  the  bankrupt  himself.  These  have  power  to  realize 
everything,  to  make  compromises,  or  to  sell  outright;  in 
short,  to  wind  up  the  whole  business  for  the  benefit  of  the 
creditors,  provided  that  the  bankrupt  makes  no  opposition. 
As  a  rule,  in  Paris,  the  bankruptcy  is  not  carried  beyond  the 
stage  of  the  provisional  trustees,  and  for  the  following  reasons : 

The  nomination  of  trustees  is  a  proceeding  calculated  to 
stir  up  more  angry  feeling  than  any  other  resolution  which  can 
be  passed  by  an  assembly  of  men,  deluded,  baffled,  befooled, 
ensnared,  bamboozled,  robbed,  cheated,  and  thirsting  for  ven- 


294  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

geance ;  and  albeit,  as  a  general  thing,  the  creditor  is  cheated, 
robbed,  bamboozled,  ensnared,  befooled,  baffled,  and  deluded, 
in  Paris  no  commercial  crisis,  no  feeling,  however  high,  can 
last  for  three  mortal  months.  Nothing  in  commerce  but  a 
bill  of  exchange  is  capable  of  starting  up  clamorous  for  pay- 
ment at  the  expiration  of  ninety  days.  Before  the  three 
months  are  out,  all  the  creditors,  exhausted  by  the  wear  and 
tear,  and  worn  out  by  the  marches  and  countermarches  of 
the  liquidation,  sleep  soundly  by  the  side  of  their  excellent 
little  wives.  These  facts  may  enable  those  who  are  not 
Frenchmen  to  understand  how  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  provisional  trustees  is  usually  final ;  out  of  a 
thousand  provisional  trustees,  there  are  not  five  who  are  ap- 
pointed to  carry  the  thing  further.  The  reasons  of  the  swift 
abjuration  of  commercial  enmity  which  has  its  source  in  a 
failure  may  be  imagined  ;  but  for  those  who  have  not  the  good 
fortune  to  be  merchants,  some  explanation  of  the  drama 
known  as  bankruptcy  is  necessary  if  they  are  to  comprehend 
how  it  constitutes  the  most  monstrous  legal  farce  in  Paris  and 
understand  the  ordinary  rule  to  which  Cesar's  case  was  to  be 
so  marked  an  exception  : 

A  failure  in  business  is  a  thrilling  drama  in  three  distinct 
acts.  Act  the  first  may  be  called  The  Agent ;  act  the  second, 
The  Trustees ;  and  act  the  third,  The  Concordat,  or  payment 
of  composition.  The  spectacle  is  twofold,  as  is  the  case  with 
plays  performed  on  the  stage ;  for  there  is  the  spectacular 
effect  intended  for  the  public,  and  the  more  or  less  invisible 
mechanism  by  which  the  effects  are  produced,  and  the  same 
play  if  seen  before  and  behind  the  scenes  looks  quite  different 
from  different  points  of  view.  In  the  wings  stand  the  bank- 
rupt and  his  attorney  (one  of  the  advocates  who  practice  at  the 
Tribunal  of  Commerce),  and  the  trustees  and  agent  and  the 
registrar  complete  the  list. 

Nobody  outside  Paris  knows  what  no  Parisian  can  fail  to 
know,  that  a  registrar  is  the  most  extraordinary  kind  of  magis- 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  295 

trate  which  the  freaks  of  civilization  have  devised.  In  the 
first  place  he  is  a  judge  who,  at  every  moment  of  his  official 
life,  may  go  in  fear  that  his  own  measure  may  be  dealt  to  him 
again.  Paris  has  even  seen  the  president  of  her  Tribunal  of 
Commerce  compelled  to  file  his  petition  ;  and  the  ordinary 
judge,  who  is  called  upon  to  act  as  a  registrar,  is  no  venerable 
merchant  retired  from  business,  whose  magistracy  is  a  tribute 
to  a  stainless  career,  but  the  active  senior  partner  of  some 
great  house,  a  man  burdened  with  the  responsibility  of  vast 
enterprises.  It  is  a  sine  qua  non  that  a  judge  who  is  bound  to 
give  decisions  on  the  torrents  of  commercial  disputes  which 
pour  incessantly  upon  the  capital  shall  have  as  much  or  more 
business  of  his  own  than  he  can  manage. 

Thus  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  which  might  have  been  a 
useful  transition  stage  and  half-way  house  between  the  trading 
community  and  the  regions  of ,  the  noblesse,  is  composed  of 
busy  merchants,  who  may  one  day  be  made  to  suffer  for  un- 
popular awards,  and  a  Birotteau  among  them  may  find  a  du 
Tillet. 

The  judge  or  registrar,  therefore,  is  of  necessity  a  personage 
in  whose  presence  a  great  deal  is  said  to  which  perforce  he 
lends  an  ear,  thinking  the  while  of  his  private  concerns.  He 
is  very  apt  to  leave  public  business  in  the  hands  of  the  trus- 
tees and  the  attorneys  who  practice  at  the  Tribunal  of  Com- 
merce, unless  some  odd  and  unusual  case  turns  up ;  some 
instance  of  theft  under  curious  circumstances,  to  draw  from 
him  the  remark  that  either  the  creditor  or  the  debtor  must  be 
a  clever  fellow.  This  personage  set  on  high  above  the  scene, 
like  the  portrait  of  a  king  in  an  audience-chamber,  is  to  be 
seen  of  a  morning  from  five  to  seven  o'clock  in  his  yard  if  he 
is  a  lumber  merchant ;  in  his  store,  if,  like  Birotteau,  he  is  a 
perfumer;  and  again  in  the  evening  at  dessert  after  dinner, 
but  always  and  in  any  case  terribly  busy.  For  these  reasons 
this  functionary  is  usually  dumb. 

Let  us  do  justice  to  the  law ;  the  registrar's  hands  are  tied 


296  C&SAR  BIROTTBAU. 

by  the  hasty  legislation  which  provided  for  these  matters; 
and  many  a  time  he  sanctions  frauds  which  he  is  powerless  to 
hinder,  as  will  shortly  be  seen. 

The  agent,  instead  of  being  the  creditor's  man,  may  play 
into  the  debtor's  hands.  Each  creditor  hopes  to  swell  his 
share  and  in  some  way  to  make  better  terms  for  himself  with 
the  bankrupt,  whom  every  one  suspects  of  a  secret  hoard. 
The  agent  can  make  something  out  of  both  sides,  by  dealing 
leniently  with  the  bankrupt  on  the  one  hand,  or,  on  the  other, 
by  securing  something  for  the  more  influential  creditors,  and 
in  this  way  can  hold  with  the  hare  and  run  with  the  hounds. 
Not  unfrequently  a  crafty  agent  has  annulled  a  judgment  by 
buying  out  the  creditors  and  releasing  the  merchant,  who 
springs  up  again  at  a  rebound  like  an  india-rubber  ball. 

The  agent  turns  to  the  best  furnished  crib ;  he  will,  if  nec- 
essary, cover  the  largest  creditors  and  let  the  debtor  go  bare, 
or  he  will  sacrifice  the  creditors  to  the  merchant's  future,  as 
suits  him  best.  So  the  whole  drama  turns  on  the  first  act ; 
and  the  agent,  like  the  attorney  of  the  Tribunal,  is  the  utility- 
man  in  a  piece  in  which  neither  will  play  unless  he  is  sure  of 
his  fees  beforehand.  In  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  thousand,  the  agent  is  for  the  debtor. 

At  the  time  when  this  story  took  place,  it  was  the  practice 
of  attorneys  at  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  to  go  to  the  judge 
who  was  to  act  as  registrar  and  nominate  a  man  of  their  own, 
some  one  who  knew  something  of  the  debtor's  affairs  and 
could  manage  to  reconcile  the  interests  of  the  many  and  of 
the  one — the  honorable  trader  who  had  fallen  into  misfortune. 
Of  late  years  it  has  been  the  practice  of  shrewd  judges  to 
wait  till  this  has  been  done  so  as  to  avoid  the  nominee,  and 
to  make  an  effort  to  appoint  a  man  of  passable  integrity. 

During  this  first  act  the  creditors,  genuine  or  presumed, 
present  themselves  to  select  the  provisional  trustees,  an  ap- 
pointment which,  as  has  been  said,  is  practically  final.  In 
this  electoral  assembly  every  creditor  has  a  voice,  whether  his 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  297 

claim  is  for  fifty  sous  or  fifty  thousand  francs,  and  the  votes 
are  reckoned  by  count  and  not  by  weight.  The  names  of  the 
trustees  are  proposed  at  the  meeting,  packed  by  the  debtor 
with  sham  creditors  (the  only  ones  who  never  fail  to  put  in  an 
appearance) ;  and  from  the  names  thus  sent  in,  the  registrar, 
the  powerless  president,  is  bound  to  choose  those  who  shall 
act.  Naturally,  therefore,  the  registrar  takes  the  trustees  from 
the  debtor's  hands,  another  abuse  which  turns  this  catastrophe 
into  one  of  the  most  burlesque  dramas  sanctioned  by  a  court 
of  justice.  The  "honorable  trader  fallen  into  misfortune" 
is  master  of  the  situation,  and  proceeds  to  carry  out  a  pre- 
meditated robbery  with  the  law  at  his  back.  In  Paris,  as  a 
rule,  the  petty  tradesmen  are  blameless.  Before  a  storekeeper 
files  his  schedule,  the  poor  honest  fellow  has  left  no  stone 
unturned ;  he  has  sold  his  wife's  shawl  and  pawned  his 
spoons  and  forks ;  and  when  he  gives  in  at  last,  it  is  with 
empty  hands,  he  is  utterly  ruined,  and  has  not  even  money  to 
pay  the  attorney,  who  troubles  himself  very  little  about  his 
client. 

The  law  demands  that  the  concordat,  which  remits  a  part 
of  the  debt  and  restores  the  debtor  to  the  management  of  his 
affairs,  should  be  put  to  the  vote  and  carried  by  a  sufficient 
majority,  with  due  regard  to  the  amounts  claimed  by  the 
voters.  To  secure  the  majority  is  a  great  feat  which  demands 
the  most  skillful  diplomacy  on  the  part  of  the  debtor,  his 
attorney,  and  the  trustees  amid  the  clash  of  conflicting  inter- 
ests. The  ordinary  commonplace  stratagem  consists  in  offer- 
ing to  such  a  body  of  the  creditors  as  will  represent  the 
majority  required  by  the  law  a  premium  to  be  paid  over  and 
above  the  dividend  which  the  meeting  of  creditors  is  to  consent 
to  accept.  For  this  gigantic  swindle  there  is  no  remedy.  Suc- 
cessive Tribunals  of  Commerce,  familiar  with  it  by  dint  of  prac- 
tice in  non-official  capacity  and  grown  wise  by  experience, 
have  decided  of  late  that  all  claims  are  made  void  where  there 
is  a  suspicion  of  fraud  ;  thus  it  is  to  the  debtor's  interest  to 


298  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

complain  of  the  "  extortion,"  and  the  judges  of  the  Tribunal 
hope  in  this  way  to  raise  the  moral  tone  of  proceedings  in 
liquidation.  But  they  will  only  succeed  in  making  matters 
worse;  creditors  will  exercise  their  ingenuity  to  invent  still 
more  rascally  devices,  which  the  judges  will  brand  as  regis- 
trars and  profit  by  as  merchants. 

Another  extremely  popular  expedient,  which  gave  rise  to 
the  expression  "serious  and  legitimate  creditor,"  consists  in 
creating  creditors,  much  as  du  Tillet  created  a  firm  of  bankers. 
By  introducing  a  sufficient  number  of  Claparons  into  the 
meeting,  the  debtor,  in  these  diverse  manifestations,  receives 
a  share  of  the  spoils,  and  sensibly  diminishes  the  dividends 
of  the  real  creditors.  This  plan  has  a  double  advantage : 
The  debtor  obtains  resources  for  the  future,  and  at  the  same 
time  secures  the  proper  number  of  votes  representing  (to  all 
appearance)  a  sufficient  proportion  of  the  claims  upon  the 
estate,  the  majority  necessary  for  his  discharge.  These  "  gay 
bogus  creditors  "  are  like  sham  electors  in  the  electoral  col- 
lege. What  help  has  the  "  serious  bonb-fidc  creditor  "  against 
his  "gay  bogus"  compeer?  He  can  rid  himself  of  him  by 
attacking  him  !  Very  good.  But  if  the  "  serious  and  bon&- 
fide"  creditor  means  to  oust  the  intruder,  he  must  leave  his 
own  business  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  he  must  employ  an 
attorney;  and,  as  the  said  attorney  makes  little  or  nothing  out 
of  the  case,  he  prefers  to  "conduct  "  bankruptcies,  and  does 
not  take  a  bit  of  pettifogging  business  too  seriously.  Then, 
at  the  outset,  before  the  "gay  and  bogus"  one  can  be  un- 
earthed, a  labyrinth  of  procedure  must  be  entered  upon,  the 
bankrupt's  books  must  be  gone  through  to  some  remote  epoch, 
and  application  must  be  made  to  the  Court  to  require  that  the 
books  of  the  pretended  creditor  shall  be  likewise  produced  ; 
the  improbability  of  the  fiction  must  be  set  forth  and  clearly 
proved  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  judges  of  the  Tribunal,  and 
the  serious  creditor  must  come  and  go  and  plead  and  arouse 
interest  in  the  indifferent.  This  Quixotic  performance,  more- 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  299 

over,  must  be  gone  through  afresh  in  each  separate  case ;  and 
each  gay  and  bogus  creditor,  if  fairly  convicted  of  "gaiety," 
makes  his  bow  to  the  Court  with  an  "Excuse  me,  there  is 
some  mistake;  I  am  very  serious  indeed."  All  this  is  done 
without  prejudice  to  the  rights  of  the  debtor,  who  may  appeal 
and  bring  Don  Quixote  into  the  Court-Royal.  And  in  the 
meantime  Don  Quixote's  own  affairs  go  askew,  and  he  too 
may  be  compelled  to  file  his  schedule. 

Moral :  Let  the  debtor  choose  his  trustees,  verify  the  claims, 
and  arrange  the  amount  of  composition  himself. 

Given  these  conditions,  who  cannot  imagine  the  underhand 
schemes,  the  tricks  worthy  of  Sganarelle,  stratagems  that  a 
Frontin  might  have  devised,  the  lies  that  would  do  credit  to 
a  Mascarille,  the  empty  wallets  of  a  Scapin,  and  all  the  results 
of  these  two  systems?  Any  bankruptcy  since  insolvency  came 
into  fashion  would  supply  a  writer  with  material  sufficient  to 
fill  the  fourteen  volumes  of  "  Clarissa  Harlowe."  A  single 
example  shall  suffice : 

The  illustrious  Gobseck,  the  master  at  whose  feet  the  Pal- 
mas,  Gigonnets,  Werbrusts,  Kellers,  and  Nucingens  of  Paris 
have  sat,  once  found  himself  among  the  creditors  of  a  bank- 
rupt who  had  managed  to  swindle  him,  and  whom,  on  that 
account,  he  proposed  to  handle  roughly.  Of  this  person  he 
received  bills  to  fall  due  after  the  discharge  for  a  sum  which 
(taken  together  with  the  dividends  received  at  the  time) 
should  pay  the  amount  owing  to  him  (Gobseck)  in  full.  Gob- 
seck, in  consequence,  recommended  that  a  final  dividend  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  be  paid.  Behold  the  creditors  swindled 
for  Gobseck's  benefit  !  But  the  merchant  had  signed  the 
illegal  bills  in  the  name  of  the  insolvent  firm  ;  and  when  the 
time  came,  a  dividend  of  twenty-five  per  cent,  was  all  that  he 
could  be  made  to  pay  upon  them,  and  Gobseck,  the  great 
Gobseck,  received  a  bare  fifty  per  cent.  He  always  took  off 
his  hat  with  ironical  respect  when  he  met  that  debtor. 

As  all  transactions  which  take  place  within  ten  days  before 


300  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

the  time  when  a  man  files  his  schedule  are  open  to  question, 
certain  prudent  prospective  bankrupts  are  careful  to  break 
ground  early,  and  to  approach  some  of  their  creditors,  whose 
interest  it  is,  not  less  than  their  own,  to  arrive  at  a  prompt 
settlement.  Then  the  more  astute  creditors  will  go  in  search 
of  the  simple  or  of  the  very  busy,  paint  the  failure  in  the 
darkest  colors,  and  finally  buy  up  their  claims  for  half  their 
value.  When  the  estate  is  liquidated,  these  shrewd  folk  come 
by  the  dividend  on  their  own  share,  and  make  fifty,  thirty,  or 
twenty-five  per  cent,  on  the  liabilities  which  they  have  pur- 
chased, and  in  this  way  contrive  to  lose  nothing. 

After  the  failure  is  declared,  the  house  in  which  a  few  bags  of 
money  yet  remain  from  the  pillage  is  more  or  less  hermetically 
sealed.  Happy  the  merchant  who  can  effect  an  entrance  by  the 
window,  the  roof,  the  cellar,  or  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  secure  a 
bag  to  swell  his  share  !  When  things  have  come  to  this  pass, 
this  Beresina,  where  the  cry  of  "  Each  for  himself"  has  been 
raised,  it  is  hard  to  say  what  is  legal  or  illegal,  true  or  false, 
honest  or  dishonest.  A  creditor  is  thought  a  clever  fellow  if 
he  "covers  himself;"  that  is  to  say,  if  he  secures  himself  at 
the  expense  of  the  rest.  All  France  once  rang  with  discussion 
of  a  prodigious  failure,  which  took  place  in  a  certain  city 
where  there  was  a  Court-Royal ;  the  magistrates  therein  being 
all  personally  interested  in  the  case  arrayed  their  shoulders  in 
waterproof  cloaks  so  heavy  that  the  mantle  of  justice  was 
worn  into  holes,  on  which  grounds  it  was  necessary  to  transfer 
the  affair  into  another  court.  There  was  no  registrar,  no 
agent,  no  final  judgment  possible  in  the  bankrupt's  own 
district. 

In  Paris  these  commercial  quicksands  are  so  thoroughly  well 
appreciated  that  every  merchant,  however  much  time  he  may 
have  on  his  hands,  accepts  the  loss  as  an  uninsured  accident; 
and,  unless  he  is  involved  for  some  very  large  sum,  passes  the 
matter  to  the  wrong  side  of  his  profit  and  loss  account.  He 
is  not  so  foolish  as  to  waste  time  over  wasted  money ;  he  pre- 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  301 

fers  to  keep  his  own  pot  boiling.  As  for  the  little  trader, 
hard  put  to  it  to  pay  his  monthly  accounts,  and  tied  to  the 
narrow  round  of  his  own  business,  tedious  law  proceedings, 
involving  a  heavy  initial  outlay,  scare  him  ;  he  gives  up  the 
attempt  to  see  through  the  matter,  follows  the  example  of  the 
great  merchant,  and  makes  up  his  mind  to  his  loss.  Whole- 
sale merchants  do  not  file  their  schedule  in  these  days ;  they 
liquidate  by  private  arrangement ;  their  creditors  take  what  is 
offered  them,  and  give  a  receipt  in  full ;  a  plan  which  saves 
publicity,  and  the  delays  of  the  law,  and  solicitors'  fees,  and 
depreciation  of  stock  consequent  on  a  sudden  realization.  It 
is  a  common  belief  that  it  pays  better  to  have  a  private  arrange- 
ment than  to  force  the  estate  into  bankruptcy,  so  private 
arrangements  are  more  frequent  than  failures  in  Paris. 

The  second  act  of  the  drama  is  intended  to  prove  that  a 
trustee  is  incorruptible ;  that  there  is  not  the  slightest  attempt 
at  collusion  between  them  and  the  debtor.  The  audience, 
who  have  most  of  them  been  at  some  time  cast  for  the  part  of 
trustees  themselves,  know  that  a  trustee  is  another  name  for  a 
creditor  whose  claims  are  "covered."  He  listens,  and  be- 
lieves as  much  as  he  pleases,  till,  after  three  months  spent  in 
investigating  liabilities  and  assets,  the  day  comes  when  com- 
position is  offered  and  accepted.  Then  the  provisional  trus- 
tees read  a  little  report  for  the  assembled  creditors.  The 
following  is  a  general  formula : 

"GENTLEMEN: — The  total  amount  owing  to  us  was  one 
million.  We  have  dismantled  our  man  like  a  stranded  frigate. 
The  sale  of  old  iron,  timber,  and  copper  has  brought  in  three 
hundred  thousand  francs,  the  assets  therefore  amount  to  thirty 
per  cent,  of  the  liabilities.  In  our  joy  at  finding  this  sum, 
when  our  debtor  might  have  left  us  a  bare  hundred  thousand 
francs,  we  proclaim  him  to  be  an  Aristides.  We  vote  him 
crowns  and  a  premium  by  way  of  encouragement !  We  pro- 
pose to  leave  him  his  assets,  and  to  give  him  ten  or  a  dozen 


302  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

years  in  which  to  pay  us  the  dividend  of  fifty  per  cent.,  which 
he  condescends  to  promise  us.  Here  is  the  concordat,  walk  up 
to  the  desk  and  put  your  names  to  it !  " 

At  these  words  the  happy  creditors  fall  on  each  other's 
necks  and  congratulate  one  another.  When  the  concordat  has 
been  ratified  by  the  Tribunal  the  merchant's  assets  are  put  at 
his  disposition,  and  he  begins  business  again  as  if  nothing  had 
happened.  He  is  at  liberty  to  fail  once  more  over  the  pay- 
ment of  the  promised  dividends — a  sort  of  great-grandchild 
of  a  failure,  which  not  seldom  appears  like  an  infant  borne 
by  a  mother  nine  months  after  she  had  married  her  daughter. 

If  the  concordat  is  not  accepted,  the  creditors  forthwith 
make  a  final  appointment  of  trustees.  They  resort  to  extreme 
measures,  and  band  themselves  together  to  exploit  the  debtor's 
property  and  business ;  they  lay  their  hands  on  everything  he 
has  or  may  have,  his  reversionary  rights  in  the  property  of 
father  and  mother,  uncles  and  aunts,  and  the  like.  This  is  a 
desperate  remedy  found  by  a  "  union  of  the  creditors." 

If  a  man  fails  in  business,  therefore,  there  are  two  ways 
open  to  him  :  by  the  first  method,  he  takes  things  into  his 
own  hands,  and  means  to  recover  himself;  in  the  second, 
having  fallen  into  the  water,  he  is  content  to  go  to  the  bot- 
tom. Pillerault  knew  the  difference  well.  He  was  of  Ragon's 
opinion,  that  it  was  as  hard  to  issue  from  the  first  experience 
with  clean  hands  as  to  emerge  from  the  second  a  wealthy 
man.  He  counseled  surrender  at  discretion,  and  betook  him- 
self to  the  most  upright  attorney  on  'Change,  asking  him  to 
conduct  the  liquidation  and  to  put  the  proceeds  at  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  creditors.  The  law  requires  that  the  creditors 
should  make  an  allowance  for  the  support  of  the  debtor  and 
his  family  while  the  drama  is  in  progress.  Pillerault  gave 
notice  to  the  registrar  that  he  himself  would  maintain  his 
niece  and  nephew. 

Du  Tillet  had  planned  everything  with  a  view  to  prolong- 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  303 

ing  the  agony  of  his  old  master's  failure,  and  in  the  following 
manner.  Time  is  so  valuable  in  Paris,  that,  though  there  are 
usually  two  trustees  appointed,  one  only  acts  in  the  case ;  the 
other  is  nominated  for  form's  sake  ;  he  approves  the  proceed- 
ings, like  the  second  notary  in  a  notarial  deed  ;  and  the  active 
trustee  as  often  as  not  leaves  the  work  to  the  attorney  em- 
ployed by  the  bankrupt.  By  these  means  a  failure  of  the  first 
kind  is  conducted  so  vigorously  that  everything  is  patched 
up,  fixed,  settled,  and  arranged  during  the  minimum  time  re- 
quired by  the  legal  procedure.  In  a  hundred  days  the  registrar 
might  repeat  the  cold-blooded  epigram  of  the  minister  who 
announced  that  "Order  reigns  in  Warsaw." 

Du  Tillet  meant  to  make  an  end  of  Cesar,  commercially 
speaking.  So  the  names  of  the  trustees  appointed  through 
his  influence  had  an  ominous  sound  for  Pillerault.  M. 
Bidault,  otherwise  Gigonnet,  the  principal  creditor,  was  to  do 
nothing.  Molineux,  the  fidgety  little  old  person  who  had 
lost  nothing,  was  to  do  everything.  Du  Tillet  had  thrown 
this  noble  corpse  of  a  business  to  the  little  jackal  to  worry 
before  he  devoured  it. 

Little  Molineux  went  home  after  the  meeting  of  creditors, 
at  which  the  trustees  were  appointed,  "honored  "  (so  he  put 
it)  "  by  the  suffrages  of  his  fellow-citizens,"  and  as  happy  in 
the  prospect  of  domineering  over  Birotteau  as  an  urchin  who 
has  an  insect  to  torment.  The  owner  of  house-property,  being 
a  stickler  for  the  law,  bought  a  copy  of  the  "  Code  of  Com- 
merce," and  asked  du  Tillet  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  his 
lights.  Luckily,  Joseph  Lebas,  forewarned  by  Pillerault,  had, 
at  the  outset,  obtained  a  sagacious  and  benevolent  registrar, 
and  Gobenheim-Keller  (on  whom  du  Tillet  had  fixed  his 
choice)  was  replaced  by  M.  Camusot,  an  assistant  judge,  and 
Pillerault's  landlord,  a  Liberal,  and  a  rich  silk  merchant, 
spoken  of  as  an  honorable  man. 

One  of  the  most  dreadful  scenes  in  Cesar's  life  was  his  en- 
forced conference  with  little  Molineux ;  the  creature  whom 


304  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

he  had  looked  upon  as  such  a  nullity  had  now,  by  a  legal 
fiction,  become  Cesar  Birotteau.  There  was  no  help  for  it ; 
so,  accompanied  by  his  uncle,  he  climbed  the  six  flights  of 
stairs  in  the  Cour  Batave,  reached  the  old  man's  dismal  room, 
and  confronted  his  guardian,  his  quasi  judge,  the  man  who 
represented  the  body  of  his  creditors. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  Pillerault  asked  on  the  stairs, 
hearing  a  groan  from  Cesar. 

"  Oh  !  uncle,  you  do  not  know  what  kind  of  a  man  this 
Molineux  is." 

"I  have  seen  him  at  the  Cafe  David  these  fifteen  years; 
he  plays  a  game  of  dominoes  there  of  an  evening  now  and 
then.  That  is  why  I  came  with  you." 

Molineux  was  prodigiously  civil  to  Pillerault,  and  his  man- 
ner toward  the  bankrupt  was  contemptuously  patronizing. 
The  little  old  man  had  thought  out  his  course,  studied  his  be- 
havior down  to  the  minutest  details,  and  his  ideas  were  ready 
prepared. 

"What  information  do  you  want?"  asked  Pillerault. 
"None  of  the  claims  are  disputed." 

"Oh!  the  claims  are  all  in  order,"  said  little  Molineux; 
"  they  are  all  verified.  The  creditors  are  serious  and  bond- 
fide  !  But  there's  the  law,  sir;  there's  the  law  !  The  bank- 
rupt's expenditure  is  out  of  proportion  to  his  means.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  ball " 

"At  which  you  were  an  invited  guest,"  put  in  the  adroit 
Pillerault. 

"  Cost  nearly  sixty  thousand  francs !  At  any  rate,  that 
amount  was  spent  on  the  occasion,  and  the  debtor's  capital  at 
the  time  only  amounted  to  a  hundred  and  some  odd  thousand 
francs  !  There  is  warrant  sufficient  for  bringing  the  matter 
before  a  registrar-extraordinary,  as  a  case  of  bankruptcy  caused 
by  serious  mismanagement." 

"Is  that  your  opinion?"  asked  Pillerault,  who  noticed 
Birotteau's  despondency  at  those  words. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  305 

"  Sir,  the  said  Birotteau  was  a  municipal  officer,  that  makes 
a  difference " 

"You  did  not  send  for  us,  I  suppose,  to  tell  us  that  the 
case  was  to  be  transferred  to  a  criminal  court?"  said  Pille- 
rault.  "The  whole  Cafe  David  would  laugh  this  evening  at 
your  conduct." 

The  little  old  man  seemed  to  stand  in  some  awe  of  the 
opinion  of  the  Cafe  David  ;  he  gave  Pillerault  a  scared  look. 
He  had  reckoned  upon  dealing  with  Birotteau  alone,  and  had 
promised  himself  that  he  would  pose  as  sovereign  lord  and 
Jupiter.  He  had  meant  to  strike  terror  into  Birotteau's  soul 
by  the  thunderbolts  of  a  formal  indictment,  to  brandish  the 
axe  above  his  head,  to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  his  anguish  and 
alarm,  and  then  to  relent  at  the  prayer  of  his  victim,  and  send 
him  away  with  eternal  gratitude  in  his  soul.  But,  instead  of 
the  insect,  he  was  confronted  with  this  business-like  old 
sphinx. 

"  There  is  nothing  whatever  to  laugh  at,  sir !  "  said  he. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  returned  Pillerault.  "  You  are  con- 
sulting Monsieur  Claparon  pretty  freely ;  you  are  neglecting 
the  interests  of  the  other  creditors  to  obtain  a  decision  that 
you  have  preferential  claims.  Now  I,  as  a  creditor,  can  in- 
tervene. The  registrar  is  there." 

"Sir,"  said  Molineux,  "I  am  incorruptible." 

"  I  know  you  are,"  said  Pillerault ;  "  you  are  only  getting 
yourself  out  of  the  scrape,  as  the  saying  is.  You  are  shrewd ; 
you  have  done  as  you  did  in  the  case  of  that  tenant  of 
yours " 

"  Oh  !  sir,  my  lawsuit  in  the  matter  of  the  Rue  Montorgueil 
is  not  decided  yet !  "  cried  the  trustee,  slipping  back  into  the 
landlord  at  the  word,  just  as  the  cat  who  became  a  woman 
pounced  upon  the  mouse.  "A  new  issue,  as  they  say,  has 
been  raised.  It  is  not  a  sub-tenancy;  he  holds  direct,  and 
the  scamp  says  now  that  as  he  paid  his  rent  a  year  in  advance, 
and  there  is  only  a  year  to  run  "  (at  this  point  Pillerault  gave 
20 


306  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

Cesar  a  glance  which  recommended  the  closest  attention  to 
what  should  follow),  "and  the  year's  rent  being  prepaid, 
he  might  clear  his  furniture  out  of  the  premises.  So  there 
is  a  new  lawsuit.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  ought  to  look  after 
my  guarantees  until  I  am  paid  in  full ;  there  may  be  repairs 
for  which  the  tenant  ought  to  pay." 

"But  you  cannot  distrain  except  for  rent,"  remarked 
Pillerault. 

"  And  accessories !  "  cried  Molineux,  attacked  in  the  centre. 
"The  article  in  the  Code  is  interpreted  by  the  light  of  de- 
cisions; there  are  precedents.  The  law,  however,  certainly 
wants  mending  in  this  respect.  At  this  moment  I  am  drafting 
a  petition  to  his  lordship  the  keeper  of  the  seals  concerning 
the  hiatus.  It  would  become  the  Government  to  consider 
the  interests  of  owners  of  property.  The  State  depends  upon 
us,  for  we  bear  the  brunt  of  the  taxes." 

"You  are  well  qualified  to  enlighten  the  Government," 
said  Pillerault ;  "  but  on  what  point  in  this  business  of  ours 
can  we  throw  any  light  for  you? " 

"  I  want  to  know,"  said  Molineux  with  imperious  emphasis, 
"whether  Monsieur  Birotteau  has  received  any  money  from 
Monsieur  Popinot." 

"No,  sir,"  answered  Birotteau.  A  discussion  followed  as 
to  Birotteau's  interest  in  the  firm  of  Popinot,  in  the  course  of 
which  it  was  decided  that  Popinot  had  a  right  to  demand  the 
repayment  of  his  advances  in  full  without  putting  in  his  claim 
under  the  bankruptcy  as  one  of  Birotteau's  creditors  for  the 
half  of  the  expenses  of  starting  his  business,  which  Birotteau 
ought  to  have  paid.  Gradually,  under  Pillerault's  handling, 
Molineux  became  more  and  more  civil,  a  symptom  which 
proved  that  he  set  no  little  store  on  the  opinion  of  the  fre- 
quenters of  the  Cafe  David.  Before  the  interview  ended  he 
was  condoling  with  Birotteau,  and  asked  him  no  less  than 
Pillerault  to  share  his  humble  dinner.  If  the  ex-perfumer 
had  gone  by  himself,  he  would  perhaps  have  exasperated 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  307 

Molineux,  and  brought  rancor  into  the  business;  and  now,  as 
at  some  other  times,  old  Pillerault  played  the  part  of  guardian 
angel. 

One  horrible  form  of  torture  the  law  inflicts  upon  bank- 
rupts :  they  are  bound  to  appear  in  person  with  the  provisional 
trustees  and  the  registrar  at  the  meeting  of  creditors  which  de- 
cides their  fate.  For  a  man  who  can  rise  above  it,  as  for  the 
merchant  who  is  seeking  his  revenge,  the  dismal  ceremony  is 
not  very  formidable ;  but  for  any  one  like  Cesar  the  whole 
thing  is  an  agony  only  paralleled  by  the  last  day  in  the  con- 
demned cell.  Pillerault  did  all  in  his  power  to  make  that  day 
endurable  to  his  nephew. 

Molineux's  proceedings,  sanctioned  by  the  bankrupt,  had 
been  on  this  wise  :  The  lawsuit  concerning  the  mortgage  on 
the  property  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple  had  been  gained  in 
the  Court  of  Appeal.  The  trustees  decided  to  sell  the  land, 
and  Cesar  made  no  objections.  Du  Tillet,  knowing  that  the 
Government  meant  to  construct  a  canal  to  open  communica- 
tion between  Saint-Denis  and  the  upper  Seine,  and  that  the 
canal  would  pass  through  the  Faubourg  du  Temple,  bought 
Cesar's  property  for  seventy  thousand  francs.  Cesar's  rights 
in  the  Madeleine  building  land  were  abandoned  to  M.  Cla- 
paron,  on  condition  that  he  on  his  side  should  make  no  de- 
mand for  half  the  registration  fees,  which  Cesar  should  have 
paid  on  the  completion  of  the  contract ;  it  was  arranged  that 
Claparon  should  take  over  the  land  and  pay  for  it,  and  receive 
the  dividend  in  the  bankruptcy  which  was  due  to  the  vendors. 

The  perfumer's  interest  in  the  firm  of  Popinot  &  Company 
was  sold  to  the  said  Popinot  for  forty-eight  thousand  francs. 
Celestin  Crevel  bought  the  business  as  a  going  concern  for 
fifty-seven  thousand  francs,  together  with  the  lease  of  the 
premises,  the  stock,  the  fittings,  the  proprietary  rights  in  the 
Pate  des  Sultanes  and  Carminative  Toilet  Lotion,  a  twelve 
years'  lease  of  the  factory  and  the  plant  being  included  in  the 
sale. 


308  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

The  liquid  assets  reached  a  total  of  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
five  thousand  francs,  to  which  the  trustees  added  seventy 
thousand  francs  from  the  liquidation  of  "  that  unlucky  fellow 
Roguin."  Two  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  francs  in 
all.  The  liabilities  amounted  to  about  four  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  francs,  so  that  there  would  be  a  dividend  of  more 
than  fifty  per  cent. 

A  liquidation  is  something  like  a  chemical  process,  from 
which  the  clever  insolvent  merchant  endeavors  to  emerge  as  a 
saturated  solution.  Birotteau,  distilled  entirely  in  this  retort, 
yielded  a  result  which  infuriated  du  Tillet.  Du  Tillet  thought 
that  there  would  be  a  dishonoring  bankruptcy,  and  behold  a 
liquidation  highly  creditable  to  his  man.  He  cared  very  little 
about  the  pecuniary  gain,  for  he  would  have  the  building  land 
by  the  Madeleine  without  opening  his  purse ;  he  wished  to  see 
the  poor  merchant  disgraced,  ruined,  and  humbled  in  the  dust. 
The  meeting  of  creditors  would  doubtless  carry  out  the  per- 
fumer in  triumph  on  their  shoulders. 

As  Birotteau's  courage  returned,  his  uncle,  like  a  wise 
physician,  gradually  told  him  the  details  of  the  proceedings 
in  bankruptcy.  These  rigorous  measures  were  so  many  heavy 
blows.  A  merchant  cannot  but  feel  depressed  when  the 
things  on  which  he  has  spent  so  much  money  and  so  much 
thought  are  sold  for  so  little.  He  was  petrified  with  astonish- 
ment at  the  tidings  which  Pillerault  brought. 

"  Fifty-seven  thousand  francs  for  the  Queen  of  Roses  ! 
Why,  the  stock  is  worth  ten  thousand  francs  !  We  spent 
forty  thousand  francs  on  the  rooms  and  the  fittings;  the 
plant,  the  moulds  and  boilers  over  at  the  factory  cost  thirty 
thousand  francs  !  Why,  if  the  things  are  sold  for  half  their 
value,  there  is  the  worth  of  ten  thousand  francs  in  the  store, 
and  the  Pate  des  Sultanes  and  the  Lotion  are  as  good  as  a 
farm  !  " 

Poor  ruined  Cesar's  jeremiads  did  not  alarm  Pillerault 
very  much.  The  old  merchant  took  them  much  as  a 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  309 

horse  takes  a  shower  of  rain  ;  but  when  he  came  to  talk  of 
the  meeting  of  creditors,  Cesar's  gloomy  silence  frightened 
him.  Those  who  understand  the  weakness  and  vanity  of 
human  nature  in  every  social  sphere  will  understand  that  for 
an  ex-judge  to  return  as  a  bankrupt  to  the  Palais  where  he  had 
sat  was  a  ghastly  form  of  torture.  He  must  receive  his  en- 
emies in  the  very  place  where  he  had  been  so  often  thanked 
for  his  services  ;  he,  Birotteau,  whose  views  as  to  bankruptcy 
were  so  well  known  in  Paris;  he  who  had  said,  "A  man  who 
files  his  schedule  is  an  honest  man  still,  but  by  the  time  he 
comes  out  of  a  meeting  of  creditors  he  is  a  rogue. "  His  uncle 
watched  for  favorable  opportunities,  and  tried  to  accustom 
him  to  the  idea  of  appearing  before  his  creditors  assembled,  as 
the  law  requires.  This  condition  was  killing  Birotteau.  His 
dumb  resignation  made  a  deep  impression  on  Pillerault,  who, 
through  the  thin  partition  wall,  used  to  hear  him  cry  at  night, 
"  Never  !  never  !  I  will  die  sooner." 

Pillerault,  so  strong  himself  by  reason  of  his  simple  life, 
understood  weakness.  He  made  up  his  mind  to  spare  Birot- 
teau the  anguish  to  which  his  nephew  might  succumb,  the 
dreadful  and  inevitable  meeting  with  his  creditors  !  The  law 
is  precise,  positive,  and  unflinching  in  this  respect;  the  debtor 
who  refuses  to  appear  is  liable  on  these  grounds  alone  to  have 
his  case  transferred  out  of  the  commercial  into  the  criminal 
court.  But  if  the  law  compels  the  appearance  of  the  debtor, 
it  exercises  no  such  constraint  upon  the  creditors. 

A  meeting  of  creditors  is  a  mere  formality  except  in  certain 
cases;  when,  for  example,  a  rogue  is  to  be  ousted,  or  the 
creditors  unite  to  refuse  the  dividend  offered,  or  cannot  agree 
among  themselves  because  some  of  their  number  are  privileged 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  rest,  or  the  dividend  offered  is  out- 
rageously small,  and  the  bankrupt  is  doubtful  of  obtaining  a 
majority  to  carry  the  resolution.  But  when  the  estate  has 
been  honestly  liquidated,  or  when  a  rascally  debtor  has 
squared  everybody,  the  meeting  is  only  a  matter  of  form.  So 


310  CESAR  B1ROTTEAU. 

Pillerault  went  round  to  the  creditors  one  after  another  and 
asked  each  to  empower  his  attorney  to  represent  him  on  that 
occasion.  Every  creditor,  du  Tillet  excepted,  was  sorry  for 
Birotteau  now  that  he  had  been  brought  low.  All  of  them 
knew  how  he  had  behaved,  how  well  his  books  had  been  kept, 
and  how  straightforward  he  had  been  in  the  matter.  They 
were  well  pleased  to  find  not  one  "gay"  creditor  among 
their  number.  Molineux,  as  agent  in  the  first  place,  and 
afterward  as  trustee,  had  found  all  that  the  poor  man  pos- 
sessed, down  to  the  print  of  "Hero  and  Leander "  which 
Popinot  had  given  him.  Birotteau  had  not  taken  away  such 
small  matters  as  his  gold-buckles,  his  pin,  and  the  two  watches, 
which  even  an  honest  man  might  not  have  scrupled  to  keep. 
This  touching  obedience  to  the  law  made  a  great  sensation  in 
commercial  circles.  Birotteau's  enemies  represented  these 
things  as  conclusive  signs  of  the  man's  stupidity ;  but  sensible 
people  saw  them  in  their  true  light,  as  a  magnificent  excess  of 
honesty.  In  two  months  a  change  had  been  brought  about  in 
opinion  on  'Change.  The  most  indifferent  admitted  that  this 
failure  was  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  of  commerce  ever 
heard  of.  So  when  the  creditors  knew  that  they  were  to 
receive  sixty  per  cent.,  they  agreed  to  do  all  that  Pillerault 
asked  of  them.  There  are  but  few  attorneys  practicing  at  the 
Tribunal ;  so  several  of  the  creditors  deputed  the  same  man  to 
represent  them,  and  the  whole  formidable  assemblage  was 
reduced  to  three  attorneys,  Ragon,  the  two  trustees,  and  the 
registrar. 

"Cesar,  you  can  go  without  fear  to  your  meeting  to-day; 
you  will  find  nobody  there,"  Pillerault  said  on  the  morning 
of  that  memorable  day. 

M.  Ragon  wished  to  go  with  his  debtor.  At  the  sound  of 
the  thin  elderly  voice  of  the  previous  owner  of  the  Queen  of 
Roses,  all  the  color  left  his  successor's  face ;  but  the  kind  little 
old  man  held  out  his  arms,  and  Birotteau  went  to  him  like  a 
child  to  his  father,  and  both  shed  tears.  This  indulgent 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  311 

goodness  put  fresh  heart  into  Cesar,  and  he  followed  his 
uncle  to  the  cab. 

Punctually  at  half-past  three  they  arrived  in  the  Cloitre 
Saint-Merri,  where  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce  then  held  its 
sessions.  The  Salle  des  Faillites  was  deserted.  The  day  and 
the  hour  had  been  fixed  to  that  end  with  the  approbation  of 
the  trustees  and  the  registrar.  The  attorneys  were  there  on 
behalf  of  their  clients ;  there  was  nothing  to  fill  Cesar's  soul 
with  dread ;  and  yet  the  poor  man  could  not  enter  M.  Camu- 
sot's  room  (which  had  once  been  his)  without  deep  emotion, 
and  he  shuddered  as  he  went  through  the  Salle  des  Faillites. 

"It  is  cold,"  said  M.  Camusot,  turning  to  Birotteau; 
"these  gentlemen  will  not  be  sorry  to  stay  here  instead  of 
being  frozen  in  the  Salle."  (He  would  not  say  the  Salle  des 
Faillites.*)  "Seat  yourselves,  gentlemen." 

Every  one  sat  down ;  the  registrar  put  Cesar,  still  confused, 
into  his  own  armchair.  Then  trustees  and  attorneys  signed 
their  names. 

"In  consideration  of  the  abandonment  of  your  estate," 
said  Camusot,  again  addressing  Birotteau,  "  your  creditors 
unanimously  agree  to  forego  the  remainder  of  their  claims ; 
your  concordat  is  couched  in  language  which  may  soften  your 
regrets ;  your  attorney  will  have  it  confirmed  by  the  Tribunal 
at  once.  So  you  are  discharged.  All  the  judges  of  the  Tri- 
bunal have  felt  sorry  that  you  should  be  placed  in  such  a 
position,  dear  Monsieur  Birotteau,  without  being  surprised  by 
your  courage,"  Camusot  went  on,  taking  Birotteau's  hands, 
"  and  there  is  no  one  but  appreciates  your  integrity.  Through 
your  disasters  you  have  shown  yourself  worthy  of  the  position 
which  you  held  here.  I  have  been  in  business  these  twenty 
years,  and  this  is  the  second  time  that  I  have  seen  a  merchant 
rise  in  public  esteem  '  after  his  failure.'  ' 

Birotteau  grasped  the  registrar's  hand  and  squeezed  it. 
There  were  tears  in  his  eyes.  Camusot  asked  him  what  he 
*  Bankrupts'  Hall. 


312  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

meant  to  do,  and  Birotteau  answered  that  he  was  going  to 
work,  and  that  he  intended  to  pay  his  creditors  in  full. 

"  If  you  should  be  in  want  of  a  few  thousand  francs  to 
carry  out  your  noble  design,  you  will  always  find  them  if  you 
come  to  me,"  said  Camusot ;  "  I  would  give  them  with  great 
pleasure  to  see  a  thing  not  often  seen  in  Paris." 

Pillerault,  Ragon,  and  Birotteau  left  the  Tribunal. 

"  Well,  was  it  so  bad  after  all  ?  "  said  Pillerault,  when  they 
stood  outside. 

"I  can  see  your  hand  in  it,  uncle,"  said  Cesar,  deeply 
touched. 

"  And  now  that  you  are  on  your  feet  again,  come  and  see 
my  nephew,"  said  Ragon  ;  "  it  is  only  a  step  to  the  Rue  des 
Cinq-Diamants." 

It  was  with  a  cruel  pang  that  C6sar  looked  up  and  saw  Con- 
stance sitting  at  her  desk  in  a  room  on  the  low,  dark  floor 
above  the  store  ;  dark,  for  a  signboard  outside,  on  which  the 
name  "A.  Popinot "  was  painted,  cutoff  one-third  of  the 
light  from  the  window. 

"  Here  is  one  of  Alexander's  lieutenants,"  said  Birotteau, 
pointing  to  the  sign  with  the  forced  mirth  of  misfortune. 

This  constrained  gaiety,  the  naive  expression  of  Birotteau's 
old  belief  in  his  superior  talents,  made  Ragon  shudder,  de- 
spite his  seventy  years.  But  Cesar's  cheerfulness  broke  down 
when  his  wife  brought  in  letters  for  Popinot  to  sign,  and  his 
face  turned  white  in  spite  of  himself. 

"  Good-evening,  dear,"  she  said,  smiling  at  him. 

"  I  need  not  ask  whether  you  are  comfortable  here,"  Cdsar 
said,  and  he  looked  at  Popinot. 

"I  might  be  in  my  own  son's  house,"  she  said,  and  her 
husband  was  struck  by  the  tender  expression  which  crossed 
her  face. 

Birotteau  embraced  Popinot,  saying,  "  I  have  just  lost  for 
ever  the  right  to  call  you  my  son." 

"  Let  us  hope,"  said  Popinot.     "Your  Oil  is  going  well, 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  313 

thanks  to  our  efforts  in  the  newspapers,  and  thanks  to  Gaud- 
issart,  who  has  been  all  over  and  flooded  France  with  placards 
and  prospectuses.  He  is  having  prospectuses  in  German 
printed  at  Strasbourg,  and  is  just  about  to  descend  on  Ger- 
many like  an  invasion.  We  have  orders  for  three  thousand 
gross. ' ' 

"  Three  thousand  gross  !  "  echoed  Cdsar. 

"  And  I  have  bought  some  land  in  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Marceau,  not  badly ;  a  factory  is  to  be  built  there.  I  shall 
keep  on  at  the  other  place  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple." 

"With  a  little  help,  wife,"  Birotteau  said  in  Constance's 
ear,  "  we  shall  pull  through." 

From  that  memorable  day  Cesar  and  his  wife  and  daughter 
understood  one  another.  Poor  clerk,  as  he  was,  he  had  set 
himself  a  task  which,  if  not  impossible,  was  gigantic ;  he 
would  pay  his  creditors  in  full !  The  three,  united  by  a 
common  bond  of  fierce  independence,  grew  miserly  and 
denied  themselves  everything ;  every  centime  was  consecrated 
to  this  end.  Cesarine,  with  one  object  in  her  mind,  threw 
herself  into  her  work  with  a  young  girl's  devotion.  She  spent 
her  nights  in  devising  schemes  for  increasing  the  prosperity 
of  the  house ;  she  invented  designs  for  materials,  and  brought 
her  inborn  business  faculties  into  play.  Her  employers  were 
obliged  to  check  her  ardor  for  work,  and  rewarded  her  with 
presents,  but  she  declined  the  ornaments  and  trinkets  which 
they  offered ;  it  was  money  that  she  preferred.  Every  month 
she  took  her  salary,  her  little  earnings,  to  her  Uncle  Pillerault, 
and  Cesar  and  Mme.  Birotteau  did  the  same.  All  three  of  them 
recognized  their  lack  of  ability,  and  shrank  from  assuming  the 
responsible  task  of  investing  their  savings.  So  the  uncle  went 
into  business  again,  and  studied  the  money  market.  At  a 
later  time  it  was  known  that  Jules  Desmarets  and  Joseph 
Lebas  had  helped  him  with  their  counsel ;  both  had  zealously 
looked  for  safe  investments. 

Birotteau,  living  in  his  uncle's  house,  did  not  even  dare  to 


314  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

ask  any  questions  about  the  uses  to  which  the  family  savings 
were  put.  He  went  through  the  streets  with  a  bent  head, 
shrinking  from  all  eyes,  downcast,  nervous,  blind  to  all  that 
passed.  It  vexed  him  that  he  must  wear  fine  cloth. 

"At  any  rate,  I  am  not  eating  my  creditors'  bread,"  he 
said,  with  an  angelic  glance  at  the  kind  old  man.  "Your 
bread  is  sweet  "  (he  went  on),  "  although  you  give  it  me  out 
of  pity,  when  I  think  that,  thanks  to  this  sacred  charity,  I  am 
not  robbing  my  creditors  of  my  earnings." 

The  merchants  who  met  the  Birotteau  of  those  days  could 
not  see  a  trace  of  the  Birotteau  whom  they  used  to  know. 
Vast  thoughts  were  awakened  in  indifferent  beholders  at  sight 
of  that  face  so  dark  with  the  blackest  misery,  of  the  man  who 
had  never  been  thoughtful  so  bowed  down  beneath  the  weight 
of  a  thought ;  it  was  a  revelation  of  the  depths,  in  that  this 
being,  dwelling  on  so  ordinary  a  human  level,  could  have  had 
so  far  to  fall.  To  the  man  who  would  fain  be  wiped  out  comes 
no  extinction.  Shallow  natures  who  lack  a  conscience,  and 
are  incapable  of  much  feeling,  can  never  furnish  forth  the 
tragedy  of  man  and  fate.  Religion  alone  sets  its  peculiar  seal 
on  those  who  have  sounded  these  depths;  they  believe  in 
a  future  and  in  a  Providence ;  a  certain  light  shines  in  them, 
a  look  of  holy  resignation,  blended  with  hope,  which  touches 
those  who  behold  it ;  they  know  all  that  they  have  lost,  like 
the  exiled  angel  weeping  at  the  gates  of  heaven.  A  bankrupt 
cannot  show  his  face  on  'Change;  and  Cesar,  thrust  out  from 
the  society  of  honest  men,  was  like  the  angel  sighing  for 
pardon. 

For  fourteen  months  Cesar  refused  all  amusements;  his 
mind  was  full  of  religious  thoughts,  inspired  by  his  fall.  Sure 
though  he  was  of  the  Ragons'  friendship,  it  was  impossible  to 
induce  him  to  dine  with  them ;  nor  would  he  visit  the  Lebas, 
nor  the  Matifats,  the  Protez  and  Chiffrevilles,  nor  even  M. 
Vauquelin,  though  all  were  anxious  to  show  their  admiration 
for  Cesar's  behavior.  He  would  rather  be  alone  in  his  own 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  315 

room,  where  he  could  not  meet  the  eyes  of  any  one  to  whom 
he  owed  money ;  and  the  most  cordial  kindness  on  the  part 
of  his  friends  recalled  him  to  a  sense  of  the  bitterness  of  his 
position. 

Constance  and  Cesarine  went  nowhere.  On  Sundays  and 
holidays,  the  only  times  when  they  were  free,  the  two  women 
went  first  to  mass,  and  then  home  with  Cesar  after  the  service. 
Pillerault  used  to  ask  the  Abbe  Loraux  to  come — the  Abb6 
Loraux  who  had  sustained  Cesar  in  his  trouble — and  they  made 
a  family  party.  The  old  hardware  merchant  could  not  but 
approve  his  nephew's  scruples,  his  own  sense  of  commercial 
honor  was  too  keen ;  and  therefore  his  mind  was  bent  upon 
increasing  the  number  of  people  whom  the  bankrupt  might 
look  in  the  face  with  a  clear  brow. 

In  May,  1821,  the  efforts  of  the  family  thus  struggling  with 
adversity  were  rewarded  by  a  holiday,  contrived  by  the  arbiter 
of  their  destinies.  The  first  Sunday  in  that  month  was  the 
anniversary  of  the  betrothal  of  Cesar  and  Constance.  Pil- 
lerault and  the  Ragons  had  taken  a  little  house  in  the  country 
at  Sceaux,  and  the  old  hardware  dealer  wanted  to  make  a 
festival  of  the  house-warming. 

On  the  Saturday  evening  he  spoke  to  his  nephew.  "  We 
are  going  into  the  country  to-morrow,  Cesar,"  he  said,  "and 
you  must  come,  too." 

Cesar,  who  wrote  a  beautiful  hand,  copied  documents  for 
Derville  and  several  other  lawyers  in  the  evenings,  and  on 
Sundays  (with  a  dispensation  from  the  cure)  he  worked  like  a 
negro. 

"  No,"  he  answered  ;  "  Monsieur  Derville  is  waiting  for  an 
account  of  a  guardianship." 

"  Your  wife  and  daughter  deserve  a  holiday,  and  there  will 
be  no  one  but  ours  friends — the  Abbe  Loraux,  the  Ragons, 
and  Popinot  and  his  uncle.  Beside,  I  want  you  to  come." 

Cesar  and  his  wife,  carried  away  by  the  daily  round  of  their 
busy  lives,  had  never  gone  back  to  Sceaux,  though  from 


316  CESAR    BIROTTEAU. 

time  to  time  they  both  had  wished  to  see  the  garden  again, 
and  the  lime-tree  beneath  which  Cesar  had  almost  swooned 
with  joy,  in  the  days  when  he  was  still  an  assistant  at  the 
Queen  of  Roses.  To-day,  when  Popinot  drove  them,  and 
Birotteau  sat  with  Constance  and  their  daughter,  his  wife's 
eyes  turned  to  his  from  time  to  time,  but  the  look  of  intelli- 
gence in  them  drew  no  answering  smile  from  his  lips.  She 
whispered  a  few  words  in  his  ear,  but  a  shake  of  the  head  was 
the  only  response.  The  sweet  expressions  of  tenderness,  un- 
alterable, but  now  forced  somewhat,  brought  no  light  into 
Cesar's  eyes ;  his  face  grew  gloomier,  the  tears  which  he  had 
kept  back  began  to  fill  his  eyes.  Twenty  years  ago  he  had 
been  along  this  very  road,  when  he  was  young  and  prosperous 
and  full  of  hope,  the  lover  of  a  girl  as  lovely  as  Cesarine, 
who  was  with  them  now.  Then  he  had  dreamed  of  happiness 
to  come ;  to-day  he  saw  his  noble  child's  face,  pale  with  long 
hours  of  work,  and  his  brave  wife,  of  whose  great  beauty 
there  remained  such  traces  as  are  left  to  a  beautiful  city  after 
the  lava  flood  has  poured  over  it.  Of  all  that  had  been,  love 
alone  was  left.  Cesar's  attitude  repressed  the  joy  in  the  girl's 
heart  and  in  Anselme,  the  two  who  now  represented  the  lovers 
of  that  bygone  day. 

"  Be  happy,  children  ;  you  deserve  to  be  happy,"  said  the 
poor  father,  in  heartrending  tones.  "  You  can  love  each 
other  with  no  after-thoughts,"  added  he;  and  as  he  spoke  he 
took  both  his  wife's  hands  in  his  and  kissed  them  with  a  rev- 
erent, admiring  affection  which  touched  her  more  than  the 
brightest  cheerfulness.  Pillerault,  the  Ragons,  the  Abbe 
Loraux,  and  Popinot  the  elder  were  all  waiting  for  them  at 
the  house ;  there  was  an  understanding  among  those  five 
kindly  souls,  and  their  manner,  and  looks,  and  words  put 
Cesar  at  his  ease,  for  it  went  to  their  hearts  to  see  him  always 
as  if  on  the  morrow  of  his  failure. 

"Take  a  walk  in  the  Bois  d'Aulnay,"  said  Pillerault, 
putting  Cesar's  hand  into  that  of  his  wife's.  "  Go  and 


CESAR  B1ROTTEAU.  317 

take  Anselme  and  Cdsarine  with  you,  and  come  back  again  at 
four  o'clock." 

"Poor  things,  we  are  in  the  way,"  said  Mme.  Ragon, 
touched  by  her  debtor's  unfeigned  misery  ;  "  he  will  be  very 
happy  before  long." 

"It  is  a  repentance  without  the  sin,"  said  the  Abb6 
Loraux. 

"  He  could  only  have  grown  great  through  misfortune," 
said  the  judge. 

The  power  of  forgetting  is  the  great  secret  of  strong  and 
creative  natures ;  they  forget  after  the  manner  of  nature,  who 
knows  nothing  of  a  past ;  with  every  hour  she  begins  afresh 
the  constant  mysterious  workings  of  fertility.  But  weak  na- 
tures, like  Birotteau,  take  their  sorrows  into  their  lives  instead 
of  transmuting  them  into  the  axioms  of  experience;  and, 
steeping  themselves  in  their  troubles,  wear  themselves  out  by 
reverting  daily  to  the  old  unhappiness. 

When  the  two  couples  had  found  the  footpath  which  leads  to 
the  Bois  d'Aulnay,  set  like  a  crown  on  one  of  the  loveliest  of 
the  low  hills  about  Paris ;  when  the  Vallee-aux-Loups  lay  below 
them  in  its  enchanting  beauty,  the  bright  day,  the  charm  of 
the  view,  the  fresh  green  leaves  about  them,  and  delicious 
memories  of  that  fairest  day  of  their  youth,  relaxed  the  chords 
which  grief  had  strung  to  resonance  in  Cesar's  soul ;  he  held 
his  wife's  arm  tightly  against  his  beating  heart ;  his  eyes  were 
glazed  no  longer,  a  glad  light  shone  in  them. 

"At  last  I  see  you  again,  my  dear  Cesar,"  Constance  said. 
"It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  behaving  well  enough  to  allow 
ourselves  a  little  pleasure  from  time  to  time." 

"How  can  I?"  poor  Birotteau  answered.  "Oh!  Con- 
stance, your  love  is  the  one  good  left  to  me.  I  have  lost 
everything,  even  the  confidence  that  I  used  to  have  in  myself. 
I  have  no  heart  left  in  me ;  I  want  to  live  long  enough  to  pay 
my  dues  on  earth  before  I  die,  and  that  is  all.  You,  dear, 
who  have  been  wisdom  and  prudence  for  me,  who  saw  things 


318  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

clearly,  you  who  are  not  to  blame,  may  be  glad.  Among  us 
three,  I  am  the  only  guilty  one.  Eighteen  months  ago,  at 
that  unlucky  ball,  I  saw  this  Constance  of  mine,  the  only 
woman  whom  I  have  loved,  more  beautiful  perhaps  than  the 
young  girl  with  whom  I  wandered  along  this  path  twenty  years 
ago,  as  our  children  are  wandering  together  now.  In  less  than 
two  years  I  have  blighted  that  beauty,  my  pride,  and  I  had  a 
right  to  be  proud  of  it.  I  love  you  more  as  I  know  you  better. 
Oh  !  dearest !  "  and  his  tone  gave  the  word  an  eloquence  that 
went  to  his  wife's  heart,  "  if  only  I  might  hear  you  scold  me, 
instead  of  soothing  my  distress." 

"I  did  not  think  it  possible,"  she  said,  "  that  a  woman 
could  love  her  husband  more  after  twenty  years  of  life  to- 
gether." 

For  a  moment  Cesar  forgot  all  his  troubles  at  the  words 
that  brought  such  a  wealth  of  happiness  to  a  heart  like  his.  It 
was  with  something  like  joy  in  his  soul  that  he  went  toward 
their  tree,  which  by  some  chance  had  not  been  cut  down. 
Husband  and  wife  sat  down  beneath  it,  and  watched  Anselme 
and  Cesarine,  who  walked  to  and  fro  on  the  same  plot  of 
grass,  unconscious  of  their  movements,  fancying  perhaps  that 
they  were  still  walking  on  and  on. 

"  Mademoiselle,"  Anselme  was  saying,  "do  you  think  me 
so  base  and  so  greedy  as  to  take  advantage  of  the  fact  that  I 
own  your  father's  interest  in  the  Cephalic  Oil?  I  have  care- 
fully set  aside  his  share  of  the  profits ;  I  am  keeping  them  for 
him.  I  am  adding  interest  to  the  money ;  if  there  are  any 
doubtful  debts,  I  pass  them  to  my  own  account.  We  can  only 
belong  to  each  other  when  your  father  has  been  rehabilitated ; 
I  am  trying  with  all  the  strength  that  love  gives  me  to  bring 
that  day  soon." 

He  had  carefully  kept  his  secret  from  Cesarine's  mother ; 
but  the  simplest  lover  is  always  anxious  to  be  great  in  his 
love's  eyes. 

"And  will  it  come  soon  ?"  she  asked. 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  319 

"Very  soon,"  said  Popinot. 

The  tone  in  which  the  answer  was  given  was  so  penetrating 
that  the  innocent  and  pure-hearted  girl  held  up  her  forehead 
for  her  lover's  kiss,  fervent  and  respectful,  for  Cesarine's  noble 
nature  had  spoken  so  plainly  in  the  impulse. 

"  Everything  is  going  well,  papa,"  she  said,  with  the  air  of 
one  who  knows  a  great  deal.  "  Be  nice,  and  talk,  and  don't 
look  so  sad  any  longer." 

When  these  four  people,  so  closely  bound  together,  returned 
to  Pillerault's  new  house,  Cesar,  unobservant  though  he  was, 
felt  from  the  Ragons'  altered  manner  that  something  was  im- 
pending. Mme.  Ragon  was  peculiarly  gracious;  her  look 
and  tone  said  plainly  to  Cesar,  "  We  are  paid." 

After  dinner  the  notary  of  Sceaux  appeared.  Pillerault 
asked  him  to  be  seated,  and  glanced  at  Birotteau,  who  began 
to  suspect  some  surprise,  though  he  did  not  imagine  how 
great  it  would  be.  Pillerault  began — 

"Your  savings  for  eighteen  months,  nephew,  and  those  of 
your  wife  and  daughter  amount  to  twenty  thousand  francs.  I 
received  thirty  thousand  francs  in  the  shape  of  dividend,  so 
we  have  fifty  thousand  francs  to  divide  among  your  creditors. 
Monsieur  Ragon  has  had  thirty  thousand  francs  as  dividend ; 
so  this  gentleman,  who  is  the  notary  of  Sceaux,  is  about  to 
hand  you  a  receipt  in  full  for  principal  and  interest,  paid 
to  your  friends.  The  rest  of  the  money  is  with  Crottat  for 
Lourdois,  Madame  Madou,  the  builder,  and  the  carpenter, 
and  the  more  pressing  of  your  creditors.  Next  year  we  shall 
see.  One  can  go  a  long  way  with  time  and  patience." 

Birotteau's  joy  cannot  be  described ;  he  embraced  his  uncle, 
and  shed  tears. 

"Let  him  wear  his  cross  to-day,"  said  Ragon,  addressing 
the  Abbe  Loraux,  and  the  confessor  fastened  the  red  ribbon 
to  Cesar's  button-hole.  A  score  of  times  that  evening  he 
looked  at  himself  in  the  mirrors  on  the  walls  of  the  sitting- 
room  with  a  delight  which  people  who  believe  themselves  to 


320  CESAR  B1ROT1EAU. 

be  superior  would  laugh  at ;  but  these  good-hearted  citizens 
saw  nothing  unnatural  in  it.  The  next  day  Birotteau  went  to 
see  Mme.  Madou. 

"  Oh  !  is  that  you  !  "  she  cried  ;  "  I  did  not  know  you, 
old  man,  you  have  grown  so  gray.  Still,  the  like  of  you 
don't  come  to  grief;  there  are  places  under  Government  for 
you.  I  myself  am  working  as  hard  as  a  poodle  that  turns  a 
spit,  and  deserves  to  be  christened." 

"  But,  madame " 

"Oh,  I'm  not  blaming  you,"  she  said;  "you  had  your 
discharge." 

"  I  have  come  to  tell  you  that  I  will  pay  you  the  balance 
to-day,  at  Maitre  Crottat's  office,  and  interest  also " 

"Really?" 

"  You  must  be  there  at  half-past  eleven." 

"There's  honesty  for  you  !  good  measure,  and  thirteen  to 
the  dozen,"  cried  she,  in  outspoken  admiration.  "  Stop,  sir, 
I  do  a  good  trade  with  that  red-haired  youngster  of  yours ;  he 
is  a  nice  young  fellow;  he  lets  me  make  my  profit  without 
haggling  over  the  price,  so  as  to  make  up  to  me  for  the  loss. 
Well,  then,  I  will  give  you  the  receipt ;  keep  your  money, 
poor  old  soul !  La  Madou  fires  up  like  tinder,  she  hollers 
out,  but  she  has  something  here,"  and  she  tapped  the  most 
ample  cushion  of  live  flesh  ever  known  in  the  Great  Market. 

"Never!"  said  Birotteau,  "the  law  is  explicit;  I  mean 
to  pay  you  in  full." 

"  Then  there  is  no  need  to  keep  on  begging  and  praying 
of  me.  And  to-morrow  at  the  Market  I  will  sound  your 
praises ;  they  shall  all  know  about  you.  Oh  !  it  is  a  rare 
joke  !  " 

The  worthy  man  went  through  the  same  scene  again  with 
the  house-painter,  Crottat's  father-in-law,  but  with  some  varia- 
tions. It  was  raining.  C£sar  left  his  umbrella  in  a  corner 
by  the  door,  and  the  well-to-do  house-painter,  sitting  at 
breakfast  with  his  wife  in  a  handsomely  furnished  room,  saw 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  321 

the  stream  of  water  trickle  across  the  floor,  and  was  not  too 
considerate. 

"  Halloo,  poor  old  Birotteau,  what  do  you  want  ?  "  he  asked, 
in  the  hard  tone  which  people  use  to  a  tiresome  beggar. 

"  Has  not  your  son-in-law  asked  you,  sir " 

"What?"  Lourdois  broke  in  impatiently.  Some  request 
was  to  follow,  he  thought. 

"  To  go  to  his  office  this  morning  at  half-past  eleven,  to 
give  me  a  receipt  in  full  for  the  balance  of  your  claim?" 

"  Oh  !  that  is  another  thing  !  Just  sit  you  down,  Monsieur 
Birotteau,  and  take  a  bite  with  us " 

"Do  us  the  honor  of  breakfasting  with  us,"  said  Mme. 
Lourdois. 

"  Doing  pretty  well?  "  asked  her  burly  spouse. 

"  No,  sir.  I  have  had  to  lunch  off  a  roll  in  my  office  to 
get  some  money  together,  but  I  hope  in  time  to  repair  the 
wrong  done  to  my  neighbors." 

"Really,  you  are  a  man  of  honor,"  remarked  the  house- 
painter,  as  he  swallowed  a  mouthful  of  bread  and  butter  and 
Strasbourg  pie. 

"And  what  is  Madame  Birotteau  doing?"  asked  Mme. 
Lourdois. 

"She  is  keeping  the  books  in  Monsieur  Anselme  Popinot's 
counting-house." 

"  Poor  things  !  "  said  Mme.  Lourdois,  in  a  low  voice. 

"  If  you  should  want  me,  come  and  see  me,  my  dear  Mon- 
sieur Birotteau/'  began  Lourdois;  "I  might  be  of  use " 

"I  want  you  at  eleven  o'clock,  sir,"  said  Birotteau,  and 
with  that  he  went. 

This  first  result  gave  Birotteau  fresh  courage,  but  it  did  not 
give  him  peace  of  mind.  The  desire  to  redeem  his  character 
perturbed  him  beyond  all  measure.  He  completely  lost  the 
bloom  which  used  to  appear  in  his  face,  his  eyes  grew  dull, 
his  cheeks  hollow.  Old  acquaintances  who  met  him  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  or  after  four  in  the  afternoon  on  his 


322  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

way  to  and  from  the  Rue  de  1'Oratoire,  saw  a  pale-faced, 
nervous,  white-haired  man,  wearing  the  same  overcoat  which 
he  had  had  at  the  time  of  the  bankruptcy  (for  he  was  as  care- 
ful of  it  as  a  poor  sub-lieutenant  who  economizes  his  uniform). 
Sometimes  they  would  stop  him  in  spite  of  himself,  for  he 
was  quick-sighted,  slinking  home,  keeping  close  to  the  wall 
like  a  thief. 

"People  know  how  you  have  behaved,  my  friend,"  they 
would  say.  "  Everybody  is  sorry  to  see  how  hardly  you  live, 
you  and  your  wife  and  daughter." 

"Take  a  little  more  time  about  it,"  others  would  suggest. 
"  A  wound  in  the  purse  is  not  mortal." 

"No,  but  a  wound  in  the  soul  is  deadly  indeed,"  the  poor 
feeble  Cesar  said  one  day  in  answer  to  Matifat. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1823  the  Canal  Saint-Martin 
was  decided  upon,  and  land  in  the  Faubourg  du  Temple 
fetched  fabulous  prices.  The  canal  would  actually  pass 
through  the  property  once  Cesar's,  now  du  Tillet's.  The 
company  who  had  purchased  the  concessions  were  prepared  to 
pay  du  Tillet  an  exorbitant  sum  for  the  land  if  he  would  put 
them  in  possession  within  a  given  time,  and  Popinot's  lease 
was  the  one  obstacle  in  the  way.  So  du  Tillet  went  to  see  the 
druggist  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Diamants. 

If  Popinot  himself  regarded  du  Tillet  with  indifference,  as 
Cesarine's  lover  he  felt  an  instinctive  hatred  of  the  man.  He 
knew  nothing  of  the  theft,  nor  of  the  disgraceful  machinations 
of  the  lucky  banker,  but  a  voice  within  him  said,  "This  is  a 
thief  who  goes  unpunished."  Popinot  had  not  had  the  slightest 
transaction  with  du  Tillet,  whose  presence  was  hateful  to  him, 
and  particularly  hateful  at  that  moment  when  he  beheld  du 
Tillet  enriched  with  the  spoils  of  his  employer's  property,  for 
the  building  land  at  the  Madeleine  was  beginning  to  command 
prices  which  presaged  the  exorbitant  sums  which  were  asked 
for  lots  in  1827.  So  when  the  banker  explained  the  reason 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  323 

of  his  visit,  Popinot  looked  at  him  with  concentrated  indig- 
nation. 

"I  do  not  mean  to  refuse  outright  to  surrender  my  lease, 
but  I  must  have  sixty  thousand  francs  for  it,  and  I  will  not 
bate  a  centime." 

"Sixty  thousand  francs!"  cried  du  Tillet,  making  as 
though  he  would  go. 

"  The  lease  has  fifteen  years  to  run,  and  it  will  take  another 
three  thousand  francs  per  annum  to  replace  the  factory.  So, 
sixty  thousand  francs,  or  we  will  say  no  more  about  it,"  said 
Popinot,  turning  into  the  store,  whither  du  Tillet  followed 
him. 

The  discussion  waxed  warm,  when  Mme.  Birotteau,  hear- 
ing her  husband's  name  pronounced,  came  downstairs  and 
saw  du  Tillet  for  the  first  time  since  the  famous  ball.  He,  on 
his  side,  could  not  avoid  making  a  startled  gesture  at  the  sight 
of  the  change  wrought  in  her  face — he  was  frightened  at  his 
work  and  lowered  his  eyes. 

"  This  gentleman  is  receiving  three  hundred  thousand  francs 
for  your  land,"  said  Popinot,  addressing  Mme.  Cesar,  "and 
he  declines  to  pay  us  sixty  thousand  francs  by  way  of  indem- 
nity for  our  lease " 

"  Three  thousand  francs  per  annum,"  said  du  Tillet,  laying 
stress  on  the  words. 

"Three  thousand  francs  /  "  Madame  Cesar  repeated  the 
words  quietly  and  significantly. 

Du  Tillet  turned  pale ;  Popinot  looked  at  Mme.  Birotteau. 
There  was  a  pause  and  a  deep  silence,  which  made  the  scene 
still  more  inexplicable  to  Anselme. 

"Sign  your  surrender,"  said  du  Tillet;  "I  have  had  the 
document  drafted  by  Crottat,"  and  he  drew  a  stamped  agree- 
ment from  a  side-pocket.  "  I  will  give  you  a  draft  on  the 
bank  for  sixty  thousand  francs." 

Popinot  stared  at  Mme.  Cesar  with  great  and  unfeigned 
astonishment ;  he  thought  that  he  was  dreaming.  While  du 


324  C&SAR  BIROTTEAIT. 

Tillet  was  making  out  his  draft  at  a  desk,  Mme.  Cesar  van- 
ished upstairs  again.  The  druggist  and  the  banker  exchanged 
papers,  and  du  Tillet  went  out  with  a  very  frigid  bow  to 
Popinot. 

"At  last!"  cried  Popinot.  "Only  a  few  months  now, 
and  I  shall  have  my  Cesarine,  thanks  to  this  queer  business," 
and  he  watched  du  Tillet  turn  into  the  Rue  des  Lombards, 
where  his  cab  was  waiting  for  him.  "  My  dear  little  wife 
shall  not  wear  herself  to  death  at  her  work.  What !  was  a 
look  from  Madame  Cesar  enough  ?  What  is  there  between 
her  and  that  brigand?  It  is  a  very  extraordinary  thing." 

Popinot  sent  the  draft  to  be  cashed  at  the  bank  and  went 
upstairs  to  speak  to  Mme.  Birotteau ;  but  she  was  not  in  the 
counting-house,  doubtless  she  had  gone  to  her  room.  Anselme 
and  Constance  lived  like  a  mother-in-law  and  son-in-law 
when  these  are  on  good  terms  with  each  other,  so  he  went  to 
Constance's  room  in  all  the  haste  natural  in  a  lover  who  sees 
happiness  within  his  grasp. 

Great  was  his  astonishment  to  find  his  mother-in-law  (whom 
he  surprised  by  springing  into  the  room)  reading  a  letter  from 
du  Tillet,  for  Anselme  recognized  the  handwriting  at  once. 
The  sight  of  a  lighted  candle  and  black  phantom  scraps  of 
burnt  paper  on  the  floor  sent  a  shudder  through  Popinot, 
whose  long-sighted  eyes  had  involuntarily  read  the  words  with 
which  the  letter  began,  "  I  adore  you  !  You  know  it,  angel 
of  my  life,  and  why " 

"What  hold  have  you  on  du  Tillet  to  make  him  conclude 
such  a  bargain  as  this?"  he  asked,  with  the  jerky  laugh  of 
repressed  suspicion. 

"  Let  us  not  talk  of  it,"  she  said,  and  he  saw  that  she  was 
painfully  agitated. 

"Yes,"  answered  Popinot,  quite  taken  aback,  "we  must 
talk  of  the  end  of  your  troubles."  Anselme  swung  round  on 
his  heels  and  drummed  on  the  window-pane,  staring  out  into 
the  yard.  "Very  well,"  said  he  to  himself,  "and  suppose 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  325 

that  she  loved  du  Tillet,  is  that  any  reason  why  I  should  not 
behave  like  a  man  of  honor?  " 

"  What  is  it,  my  boy?"  the  poor  woman  asked. 

"The  net  profits  on  the  Cephalic  Oil  amount  to  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  thousand  francs,  and  the  half  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-two  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-one,"  said  Pop- 
inot  abruptly.  "  If  I  deduct  from  that  sum  the  forty-eight 
thousand  francs  already  paid  to  Monsieur  Birotteau,  there  still 
remain  seventy-three  thousand;  add  to  it  the  sixty  thousand 
just  paid  for  the  surrender  of  the  lease,  and  you  will  have  one 
hundred  and  thirty-three  thousand  francs." 

Mme.  Cesar  listened  in  such  glad  excitement  that  Popinot 
could  hear  the  beating  of  her  heart. 

"Well,  I  have  always  looked  on  Monsieur  Birotteau  as  my 
partner,"  he  continued;  "we  can  employ  the  money  in  re- 
paying his  creditors.  Your  savings,  twenty-eight  thousand 
francs,  in  Uncle  Pillerault's  keeping,  will  raise  the  sum  to  a 
hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand  francs.  Uncle  will  not  refuse 
to  give  us  a  receipt  for  his  twenty-five  thousand  francs.  No 
power  on  earth  can  prevent  my  lending  to  my  father-in-law, 
on  account  of  next  year's  profits,  enough  to  pay  off  the  re- 
mainder of  his  creditors.  And — he — will — be — rehabili- 
tated  " 

"  Rehabilitated  !  "  cried  Mme.  Cesar,  kneeling  before  her 
chair,  and,  clasping  her  hands,  she  repeated  a  prayer.  The 
letter  had  slipped  from  her  fingers.  She  crossed  herself. 
"Dear  Anselme  !  "  she  said,  "dear  boy!"  She  took  his 
face  in  her  hands,  kissed  him  on  the  forehead,  and  held  him 
tightly  in  her  arms.  "  Cesarine  is  yours,  indeed,"  she  cried. 
"  My  daughter  will  be  very  happy.  She  will  leave  the  house 
where  she  is  working  herself  to  death." 

"Through  love,"  said  Anselme. 

"Yes,"  smiled  the  mother. 

"  Listen  to  a  little  secret,"  said  Anselme,  looking  out  of  the 
corner  of  his  eye  at  the  unlucky  letter.  "  I  obliged  Celestin 


326  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

when  he  wanted  capital  to  buy  your  business,  but  it  was  on 
one  condition  :  Your  rooms  are  just  as  you  left  them.  I  had 
my  own  idea,  but  I  did  not  think  then  that  fortune  would 
favor  us  so  greatly.  Celestin  has  undertaken  to  sub-let  your 
old  rooms  to  you ;  he  has  not  set  foot  in  them,  and  all  the 
furniture  there  is  yours.  I  am  reserving  the  third  story,  so 
that  C6sarine  and  I  may  live  there ;  she  shall  never  leave  you. 
After  we  are  married,  I  will  spend  the  day  here  from  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  till  six  in  the  evening.  Then  I  will 
buy  out  Monsieur  Cesar's  interest  in  the  business  for  a  hundred 
thousand  francs,  so  that,  with  his  post,  you  will  have  ten  thou- 
sand livres  a  year.  Will  you  not  be  happy?  " 

"  Do  not  say  any  more,  Anselme,  or  I  shall  go  mad  with 
joy." 

Mme.  Cdsar's  angelic  bearing,  her  pure  eyes,  the  innocence 
on  her  fair  brow,  gave  the  lie  so  magnificently  to  the  countless 
thoughts  which  surged  up  in  the  young  lover's  brain,  that  he 
made  up  his  mind  to  slay  the  chimeras  of  his  fancy.  The  sin 
was  irreconcilable  with  the  life  and  the  sentiments  of  Pille- 
rault's  niece. 

"My  dear  adored  mother,"  he  began,  "a  horrible  doubt 
has  just  crossed  my  mind.  If  you  would  see  me  happy,  you 
will  set  it  at  rest." 

Popinot  held  out  his  hand  as  he  spoke,  and  took  possession 
of  the  letter. 

"  Unintentionally  I  read  the  first  words  in  du  Tillet's  hand- 
writing," he  said,  alarmed  at  the  consternation  in  her  face. 
"The  words  coincide  so  oddly  with  the  effect  you  just  pro- 
duced upon  the  man,  who  complied  at  once  with  my  extrava- 
gant demands,  that  anybody  would  find  the  explanation  which 
the  devil  suggests  to  me  in  spite  of  myself.  A  glance  from 
you,  and  three  words  were  enough " 

"  Stop,"  said  Mme.  Cesar,  and,  taking  back  the  letter,  she 
burned  it  under  Anselme's  eyes.  "  I  am  cruelly  punished  for 
a  trifling  fault,  my  child.  And  now  you  must  know  all,  An- 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  327 

selrae.  The  suspicion  attaching  to  the  mother  must  not  do 
her  daughter  an  injury,  and,  beside,  I  may  speak  without  a 
blush  ;  I  could  tell  my  husband  this  that  I  am  about  to  tell 
you.  Du  Tillet  tried  to  seduce  me,  my  husband  was  warned 
at  once,  and  du  Tillet  was  to  be  dismissed.  The  very  day 
that  my  husband  was  to  discharge  him  du  Tillet  took  three 
thousand  francs." 

"  I  suspected  it,"  said  Popinot,  with  all  his  hatred  of  the 
man  in  his  tone. 

"Anselme,  your  future  and  your  happiness  required  this 
confidence,  but  it  must  die  in  your  own  breast,  as  it  had 
died  in  Cesar's  and  mine.  You  surely  remember  the  fuss  my 
husband  made  about  the  mistake  in  the  books.  Monsieur  Birot- 
teau,  no  doubt,  put  three  thousand  francs  into  the  safe  (the  price 
of  the  shawl,  which  was  not  given  to  me  for  three  years),  so 
as  to  avoid  ruining  the  young  man  by  bringing  him  into  a 
police  court.  So  there  you  have  the  explanation  of  my  cry 
of  surprise.  Alas,  my  dear  boy,  I  will  confess  my  childish 
conduct.  Du  Tillet  had  written  three  love  letters  to  me, 
letters  which  showed  his  nature  so  plainly  that  I  kept  them — 
as  a  curiosity.  I  only  read  them  once  ;  but,  after  all,  it  was 
not  wise  to  keep  them.  When  I  saw  du  Tillet,  I  thought  of 
them,  and  went  up  to  my  room  to  burn  tkem.  When  you 
came  in,  I  was  looking  at  the  last  one.  That  is  all,  my 
dear." 

Anselme  knelt  and  kissed  Mme.  Cesar's  hand.  The  ex- 
pression in  his  eyes  drew  tears  of  admiring  affection  from 
hers.  Constance  raised  her  son-in-law  and  clasped  him  to 
her  heart. 

That  day  was  destined  to  be  a  day  of  joy  for  Cesar. 
The  King's  private  secretary,  M.  de  Vandenesse,  came 
to  the  office  to  speak  with  him.  They  went  out  together 
into  the  little  courtyard  of  the  Sinking  Fund  Department. 

"Monsieur  Birotteau,"  said  the  Vicomte,  "the  story  of 
your  struggle  to  pay  your  creditors  came  by  chance  to  the 


328  C&SAR  BIROTTEAU. 

King's  knowledge.  His  majesty  was  touched  by  such  un- 
usual conduct ;  and  learning  that,  from  motives  of  humility, 
you  were  not  wearing  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor, 
he  has  sent  me  to  command  you  to  resume  it.  His  majesty 
also  wishes  to  assist  you  to  discharge  your  obligations,  and 
has  ordered  me  to  pay  this  amount  to  you  out  of  his  own 
privy  purse,  with  regrets  that  he  can  do  no  more  for  you. 
Let  the  matter  remain  a  profound  secret,  for  his  majesty 
thinks  it  little  becomes  a  King  to  make  official  proclama- 
tion of  his  good  actions,"  and  the  private  secretary  paid 
over  six  thousand  francs  to  the  employe,  who  heard  these 
words  with  indescribable  emotions. 

Birotteau  could  only  stammer  inarticulate  thanks.  Van- 
denesse  smiled  and  waved  his  hand.  Cesar's  principles  are 
so  rarely  seen  in  practice  in  Paris  that  by  degrees  his  life 
had  won  just  admiration.  Joseph  Lebas,  Popinot  the  elder, 
Camusot,  Ragon,  the  Abb£  Loraux,  the  head  partner  of  the 
firm  which  employed  Cesarine,  Lourdois,  and  M.  de  la  Bil- 
lardiere  had  spoken  of  it.  The  scale  of  opinion  had  already 
turned  in  his  favor,  and  people  praised  him  to  the  skies. 

"  There  goes  a  man  of  honor  !  "  The  words  had  reached 
Cedar's  ears  several  times  in  the  street ;  he  heard  them 
with  the  sensations  of  an  author  who  hears  his  name  pro- 
nounced. This  fair  renown  disgusted  du  Tillet.  Cesar's 
first  thought  on  receiving  the  King's  bank-notes  was  of  repay- 
ment to  his  ex-assistant.  The  good  man  betook  himself  to 
the  Rue  de  la  Chaussee-d'Antin,  and  it  so  fell  out  that  the 
banker,  returning  home  from  business,  met  him  upon  the 
staircase. 

"  Well,  my  poor  Birotteau,"  said  he,  in  a  caressing  tone. 

"Poor?"  the  other  cried  proudly.  "I  am  very  rich.  I 
shall  lay  my  head  on  the  pillow  to-night  with  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  I  have  paid  you." 

The  words,  so  full  of  honesty,  put  du  Tillet  for  a  moment 
on  the  rack.  Every  one  respected  him,  but  he  had  lost  his 


CESAR  BIKOTTEAU.  329 

own  self-respect ;  a  voice  which  could  not  be  stifled  cried 
within  him,  "  This  man  is  heroic  !  "  But  he  spoke — 

"  Pay  me  !  What  business  can  you  be  in  ?  "  he  enviously 
inquired. 

Birotteau  felt  quite  sure  that  du  Tillet  would  not  repeat  the 
story. 

"I  shall  never  start  in  business  again,  sir.  No  human 
power  could  foresee  the  thing  that  befell  me.  Who  knows 
but  what  I  might  be  the  victim  of  another  Roguin  ?  But  my 
conduct  has  been  put  before  the  King,  his  heart  has  deigned 
to  compassionate  my  struggles,  and  he  has  encouraged  them 
by  sending  me  at  once  a  fairly  large  sum,  which " 

"  Do  you  want  a  receipt  in  full  ?  "  du  Tillet  cut  him  short. 
"Are  you  paying " 

"  In  full,  and  interest  beside.  So  I  must  beg  you  to  come 
to  Monsieur  Crottat's  office,  a  step  or  two  away." 

"  In  the  presence  of  a  notary  !  " 

"  Why,  sir,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  me  from  thinking 
of  my  rehabilitation,  and  a  document  so  authenticated  is  legal 
evidence " 

"  Come,  let  us  go,"  said  du  Tillet,  and  he  went  out  with 
Birotteau ;  "it  is  only  a  step.  But  who  will  find  you  so 
much  money?"  he  went  on. 

"  No  one  finds  it  for  me,"  said  C6sar.  "  I  am  earning  it 
by  the  sweat  of  my  brow." 

"You  owe  an  enormous  amount  to  Claparon." 

"Alas  !  yes,  that  is  the  heaviest  of  my  debts ;  I  am  afraid 
the  effort  will  be  too  much  for  me." 

"  Oh  !  you  will  never  be  able  to  pay  it  all,"  said  du  Tillet 
harshly. 

"  He  is  right,"  thought  Birotteau. 

He  went  home  again  by  way  of  the  Rue  Saint-Honor6,  a 
piece  of  inadvertence,  for  he  always  went  round  some  other 
way  that  he  might  not  see  his  shop,  nor  the  windows  of  his 
old  home.  For  the  first  time  since  his  fall,  he  saw  the  house 


330  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

where  he  had  spent  eighteen  happy  years,  and  three  months 
of  anguish  that  effaced  those  memories. 

"  I  used  to  count  on  ending  my  days  there,"  he  said  to 
himself;  and  he  quickened  his  pace  at  the  sight  of  a  new 
name  on  the  store- front : 

CELESTIN  CREVEL 
Formerly  Cesar  Birotteau. 

"  My  eyes  dazzle Is  that  Cesarine  ?"  he  cried,  think- 
ing that  he  had  seen  a  golden  head  at  the  window. 

It  was  really  Cesarine  whom  he  saw,  and  his  wife  was  there, 
and  so  .was  Popinot.  The  two  lovers  knew  that  Birotteau 
never  went  past  his  old  home ;  and  it  was  impossible  that 
they  should  imagine  the  great  event  in  the  Rue  de  1'Oratoire, 
so  they  had  gone  to  make  arrangements  for  the  fete  they  were 
planning  to  give  in  Birotteau's  honor.  The  strange  appari- 
tion astonished  Cesar  so  much  that  he  stood  stockstill. 

"There  is  Monsieur  Birotteau  looking  at  his  old  house," 
said  M.  Molineux  to  a  storekeeper  who  lived  over  against  the 
Queen  of  Roses. 

"Poor  man!"  returned  Birotteau's  old  neighbor,  "he 
gave  one  of  the  grandest  balls  there — there  were  two  hundred 
carriages  in  the  street." 

"I  went  to  it;  he  went  bankrupt  three  months  afterward, 
and  I  was  trustee,"  said  Molineux. 

Birotteau  fled,  his  legs  trembling  beneath  him,  and  reached 
Pillerault's  house. 

Pillerault  knew  what  was  passing  in  the  Rue  des  Cinq-Dia- 
mants,  and  it  seemed  to  him  that  his  nephew  was  scarcely  fit 
to  bear  the  shock  of  a  joy  so  great  as  his  rehabilitation.  He 
had  been  a  daily  witness  of  Cesar's  mental  sufferings,  knew 
that  Birotteau's  own  stern  doctrine  as  to  bankrupts  was  always 
in  his  thoughts,  and  that  he  was  living  up  to  the  very  limit 
of  his  strength.  Dead  honor  might  yet  have  its  Easter  Day 


C&SAR  BIROTTEAU.  331 

for  him  ;  and  it  was  this  hope  that  gave  him  no  respite  from 
pain.  Pillerault  undertook  to  prepare  Cesar  for  the  good 
news ;  so  when  he  came  in,  his  uncle  was  thinking  how  to 
attain  his  end.  Cesar  began  to  tell  the  news  of  the  interest 
that  the  King  had  taken  in  him,  his  joy  seemed  to  Pillerault 
to  be  auspicious,  and  his  amazement  that  Cesarine  should  be 
at  the  window  at  the  sign  of  the  Queen  of  Roses  afforded  an 
excellent  opening. 

"Well,  Cesar,"  Pillerault  began,  "do  you  know  what 
brought  it  about?  Popinot  is  impatient  to  marry  C6sarine. 
He  will  not  and  ought  not  to  be  bound  any  longer  by  your 
extravagant  ideas  of  honor,  to  spend  his  youth  in  eating  dry 
bread  and  smelling  a  good  dinner.  Popinot  is  determined  to 
pay  off  your  creditors  in  full." 

"  He  is  going  to  buy  his  wife." 

"Isn't  it  to  his  credit  that  he  wants  to  rehabilitate  his 
father-in-law?" 

"  But  questions  might  be  raised,  and,  beside " 

"And,  beside,"  cried  Uncle  Pillerault  in  feigned  anger, 
"you  may  sacrifice  yourself  if  you  like,  but  you  have  no  right 
to  sacrifice  your  daughter." 

A  lively  discussion  began,  and  Pillerault  apparently  worked 
himself  up. 

"Eh  !  If  Popinot  lent  you  nothing,"  cried  he;  "if  he 
had  looked  upon  you  as  his  partner ;  if  he  chose  to  consider 
the  money  that  he  paid  over  to  your  creditors  for  your  interest 
in  the  Oil  as  an  advance  on  account  of  the  profits,  so  that  you 
should  not  be  robbed " 

"  It  would  look  as  though  I  had  arranged  with  him  to  cheat 
my  creditors." 

Pillerault  pretended  to  be  defeated  by  this  logic.  He  knew 
enough  of  human  nature  to  guess  that  during  the  night  the 
good  man  would  argue  out  the  case  with  himself;  and  those 
private  reflections  of  his  would  accustom  him  to  the  idea  of 
rehabilitation. 


322  CESAR  BTROTTEAU. 

"But  how  came  my  wife  and  daughter  to  be  in  our  old 
house?"  he  asked  at  dinner. 

"  Anselme  means  to  take  one  of  the  floors,  and  he  and 
Cesarine  will  set  up  housekeeping  there.  Your  wife  is  on  his 
side.  They  have  had  the  banns  put  up  without  telling  you, 
so  as  to  compel  you  to  give  your  consent.  Popinot  says  that 
there  will  be  less  merit  in  marrying  Cesarine  after  you  are 
rehabilitated.  You  accept  the  King's  six  thousand  francs, 
and  yet  you  will  take  nothing  from  your  relatives  !  Now,  for 
my  own  part,  I  am  quite  justified  in  giving  you  a  receipt  in 
full ;  would  you  refuse  it  ?  " 

"No,"  said  Cesar.  "But  it  would  not  hinder  me  from 
saving  the  money  to  pay  you,  receipt  or  not." 

"All  this  is  splitting  hairs,"  said  Pillerault,  "and  when 
honesty  is  in  question,  I  ought  to  be  allowed  to  know  what  is 
right.  What  folly  were  you  talking  just  now?  When  your 
creditors  are  all  paid  in  full,  will  you  still  persist  that  you  have 
cheated  them  !  " 

Cesar  looked  full  at  Pillerault  as  he  spoke,  and  it  touched 
the  older  man  to  see  a  bright  smile  on  his  nephew's  face  after 
three  years  of  dejection. 

"  You  are  right,"  he  said,  "  they  would  be  paid.  But  it  is 
like  selling  my  daughter !  " 

"And  I  wish  to  be  bought,"  cried  Cesarine,  who  came  in 
with  Popinot. 

The  lovers  stealing  on  tiptoe  through  the  lobby  had  over- 
heard the  words.  Mme.  Birotteau  was  just  behind  them. 
The  three  had  made  a  round  in  a  cab,  asking  all  the  creditors 
to  meet  in  Crottat's  office  that  evening ;  Popinot's  lover's 
logic  bore  down  Cesar's  scruples ;  but  he  still  persisted  in 
calling  himself  a  debtor,  and  would  have  it  that  he  was  out- 
flanking the  law  by  a  substitution.  Conscience  yielded  to  an 
outburst  from  Popinot — 

"  So  you  mean  to  kill  your  daughter,  do  you  ?  " 

"Kill  my  daughter!  "  echoed  C6sar,  bewildered. 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  333 

"Well,  now,"  said  Popinot,  "what  is  there  to  prevent  me 
from  making  a  deed  of  gift  in  your  favor  of  a  sum  which  on 
my  conscience  I  believe  to  be  yours?  Can  you  refuse?" 

"No,"  said  Cesar. 

"  Good.  Then  let  us  go  to  Alexandre  Crottat  this  evening, 
so  that  there  shall  be  no  going  back  upon  it,  and  our  marriage- 
contract  can  be  decided  at  the  same  time." 

An  application  for  reinstatement  and  all  the  necessary 
certificates  were  duly  deposited  by  Derville  at  the  office  of 
the  procureur-general  of  the  Court  of  Appeal. 

During  the  month  which  elapsed  between  the  putting  up  of 
the  banns  and  the  marriage,  and  during  the  progress  of  the 
formalities,  Cesar  lived  in  a  state  of  constant  nervous  excite- 
ment. He  was  ill  at  ease.  He  feared  that  he  might  not  live  to 
see  the  great  day  when  his  disabilities  should  be  formally 
removed.  His  pulse  throbbed  unaccountably,  he  said,  and  he 
complained  of  a  dull  pain  about  the  heart.  He  had  been 
exhausted  by  painful  emotion  and  this  supreme  joy  was 
wearing  him  out.  Decrees  of  rehabilitation  are  rare  in 
Paris ;  there  is  scarcely  one  in  ten  years. 

There  is  something  indescribably  solemn  and  imposing  in 
the  ceremonial  of  justice  for  those  who  take  society  seriously. 
An  institution  is  to  men  as  they  consider  it,  and  is  invested 
with  dignity  and  grandeur  by  their  thoughts.  When  a  nation 
has  ceased,  not  to  feel  the  religious  instinct,  but  to  believe ; 
when  primary  education  relaxes  the  bonds  of  union  by  teach- 
ing children  a  habit  of  merciless  anaylsis,  a  nation  is  dissolved; 
for  the  only  ties  that  are  left  to  bind  men  together  and  make 
of  them  one  body  are  the  ignoble  ties  of  material  interest 
and  the  dictates  of  the  selfish  cult  created  by  egoism  well 
carried  out.  Birotteau,  sustained  by  religion,  saw  Justice  as 
Justice  ought  to  be  regarded  among  men,  as  the  expression 
of  society  itself;  beneath  the  forms  he  saw  the  sovereign 
will,  the  laws  by  which  men  have  agreed  to  live.  If  the 
magistrate  is  old,  feeble,  and  white-haired,  so  much  the  more 


334  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

solemn  does  his  priestly  office  appear,  an  office  which  demands 
so  profound  a  study  of  human  nature  and  of  things,  an  office 
to  which  the  heart  is  immolated,  for  of  necessity  it  becomes 
callous  in  a  guardian  of  so  many  palpitating  interests. 

In  these  days  the  men  who  cannot  ascend  the  staircase  of 
the  Court  of  Appeal  in  the  old  Palais  de  Justice  in  Paris 
without  feeling  deeply  stirred  are  growing  rare;  but  Birot- 
teau  was  one  of  these  men.  There  are  not  many  who  notice 
the  majestic  grandeur  of  that  staircase,  so  magnificently 
planned  to  produce  an  effect.  It  rises  at  the  further  end  of 
the  peristyle  which  adorns  the  Cour  du  Palais.  The  doorway 
opens  on  the  centre  of  the  gallery  which  leads  from  the  vast 
Salle  des  Pas  Perdus  at  its  one  end  to  the  Sainte-Chapelle  at 
the  other,  two  monuments  which  may  well  dwarf  everything 
about  them  into  .insignificance.  The  church  of  St.  Louis  is 
in  itself  one  of  the  grandest  buildings  in  Paris,  and  there  is 
an  indescribable  dim  atmosphere  of  romance  about  it  when 
approached  by  way  of  this  gallery  ;  while  the  vast  Salle  des 
Pas  Perdus  is  flooded  with  daylight,  and  it  is  hard  to  forget 
memories  of  the  history  of  France  that  cling  about  its  walls. 
So  the  staircase  must  have  a  grandeur  of  its  own  if  it  is  not 
utterly  overshadowed  by  the  glories  of  those  two  famous 
buildings.  Perhaps  there  is  something  to  stir  the  soul  at 
the  sight  of  the  place  where  decrees  are  executed,  beheld 
through  the  rich  scroll-work  of  the  screen  of  the  Palais. 
The  staircase  gives  entrance  to  a  vast  room,  the  Salle  des 
Pas  Perdus  of  this  court,  beyond  which  lies  the  Hall  of  Audi- 
ence. Imagine  the  feeling  with  which  Birotteau  (always  so 
much  impressed  by  the  circumstance  of  justice)  mounted  the 
staircase  among  a  little  crowd  of  his  friends — Lebas,  at  that 
time  president  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce ;  Camusot,  who 
had  acted  as  registrar ;  Ragon,  his  old  master ;  and  the  Abbe 
Loraux,  his  confessor.  The  presence  of  the  good  priest 
enhanced  these  earthly  honors  by  a  reflection  from  heaven, 
which  gave  them  yet  more  value  in  Cesar's  eyes. 


CESAR   BIKOTTEAU.  335 

Pillerault,  that  practical  philosopher,  had  bethought  him 
of  the  expedient  of  dwelling  upon  and  exaggerating  the  joy 
of  the  release,  so  that  the  actual  experience  might  not  over- 
whelm Cesar.  Just  as  he  finished  dressing  he  found  himself 
surrounded  by  faithful  friends,  all  anxious  for  the  honor  of 
accompanying  him  to  the  bar  of  the  court.  The  delight 
which  suffused  the  good  man's  soul  at  the  sight  of  this  group 
raised  him  to  a  pitch  of  happiness  necessary  for  him  if  he  was 
to  endure  the  alarming  ordeal.  He  found  others  of  his  friends 
standing  in  the  Great  Hall  of  Audience,  where  a  dozen  coun- 
cilors were  sitting. 

After  the  case  had  been  called,  Birotteau's  attorney  made 
application  in  a  brief  formula.  At  a  sign  from  the  president, 
the  attorney-general  rose  to  give  his  opinion.  In  the  name 
of  the  court,  the  attorney-general,  the  public  accuser,  was 
about  to  make  demand  that  the  merchant's  honor,  which  had 
been  pledged,  should  be  vindicated ;  a  proceeding  unique  in 
law,  for  a  condemned  man  can  only  be  pardoned.  Those 
who  have  hearts  that  feel  can  imagine  Birotteau's  feelings 
when  M.  de  Granville  spoke  somewhat  as  follows : 

"Gentlemen,"  said  the  great  lawyer,  "on  the  i6th  of 
January,  1820,  Birotteau  was  declared  a  bankrupt  by  the  Tri- 
bunal of  Commerce  of  the  Seine.  The  insolvency  was  not 
occasioned  by  imprudence  on  the  part  of  the  merchant,  nor 
by  dishonest  speculation,  nor  any  other  cause  which  could 
stain  his  honor.  We  feel  that  it  is  necessary  to  state  it  pub- 
licly— the  calamity  was  brought  about  by  one  of  those  disas- 
ters which  occur  from  time  to  time,  to  the  great  affliction  of 
justice  and  of  the  city  of  Paris.  It  was  reserved  for  this 
present  century,  in  which  the  evil  leaven  of  subverted  morals 
and  revolutionary  ideas  will  long  ferment,  to  behold  the  Paris- 
ian notarial  depart  from  the  honorable  traditions  of  its  past; 
there  have  been  more  cases  of  insolvency  in  that  body  during 
the  last  few  years  than  in  two  preceding  centuries  under  the 
ancient  monarchy.  The  greed  of  gold  rapidly  acquired  has 


336  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

seized  upon  officials,  those  guardians  of  the  public  welfare 
and  intermediary  authorities." 

Then  followed  a  tirade  based  on  this  text,  in  the  course  of 
which  M.  le  Comte  de  Granville  (speaking  in  character)  took 
occasion  to  incriminate  Liberals,  Bonapartists,  and  all  and 
sundry  who  were  disaffected,  as  in  duty  bound.  Events  have 
shown  that  there  was  good  ground  for  the  councilor's  appre- 
hensions. 

"The  immediate  cause  of  the  plaintiffs  ruin  was  the  action 
of  a  Paris  notary,  who  absconded  with  the  money  which 
Birotteau  deposited  with  him.  The  sentence  passed  by  the 
court  in  Roguin's  case  shows  how  shamefully  he  had  betrayed 
his  client's  trust.  A  concordat  followed.  We  will  observe, 
for  the  honor  of  the  applicant,  that  the  proceedings  were 
characterized  by  honesty  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  scan- 
dalous failures  which  daily  occur  in  Paris.  Birotteau's  cred- 
itors, gentlemen,  found  every  trifle  that  he  possessed,  down  to 
trinkets  and  articles  of  wearing  apparel  belonging  not  only  to 
him,  but  to  his  wife,  who,  to  swell  the  assets,  gave  up  all  that 
she  had.  Birotteau  at  this  juncture  showed  himself  worthy 
of  the  respect  which  he  had  won  by  the  discharge  of  his  muni- 
cipal functions ;  for  he  was  at  that  time  deputy-mayor  of  the 
second  arrondissement,  and  had  just  received  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  accorded  to  the  devoted  Royalist,  who  shed 
his  blood  for  the  cause  on  the  steps  of  Saint-Roch  in  Vende'- 
miaire  ;  and,  no  less,  to  the  consular  judge,  who  had  won 
respect  by  his  ability  and  popularity  by  his  conciliatory 
spirit ;  to  the  modest  municipal  officer,  who  declined  the 
honors  of  the  mayoralty  for  himself  and  put  forward  the 
name  of  another  as  more  worthy — the  honorable  Baron  de  la 
Billardiere,  one  of  the  noble  Vendeans  whom  he  had  learned 
to  esteem  in  evil  days." 

"  He  put  that  better  than  I  did,"  said  Cesar  in  his  uncle's 
ear. 

"The  creditors,  therefore,  receiving  sixty  percent,  of  their 


CESAR  BIROTTEAU.  337 

claims,  thanks  to  the  upright  merchant  and  his  wife  and 
daughter,  who  surrendered  everything  that  they  possessed, 
gave  expression  to  their  respect  in  the  concordat,  by  which 
they  forwent  the  remainder  of  their  claims  in  consideration 
of  the  dividend.  The  attention  of  the  court  is  called  to  the 
manner  in  which  this  record  is  worded."  Here  the  attorney- 
general  read  the  concordat.  "  After  such  expressions  of  good- 
will, gentlemen,  many  a  trader  would  have  considered  him- 
self free,  and  would  have  walked  with  head  erect  in  public ; 
but,  so  far  from  considering  his  liabilities  to  be  discharged, 
Birotteau  would  not  give  way  to  despair,  but  made  an  inward 
resolution  to  hasten  the  coming  of  a  glorious  day  which  here 
and  now  dawns  for  him.  Nothing  turned  him  aside  from  his 
purpose.  Our  beloved  sovereign  gave  a  post  to  the  man  who 
was  wounded  at  Saint-Roch,  and  the  bankrupt  merchant  set 
by  the  whole  of  his  salary  for  the  benefit  of  his  creditors,  for 
the  devotion  of  his  family  did  not  fail  him " 

Tears  came  into  Birotteau's  eyes  as  he  squeezed  his  uncle's 
hand. 

"  His  wife  and  daughter  poured  their  earnings  into  the 
common  treasury ;  they,  too,  had  embraced  Birotteau's  loyal 
purpose.  They  descended  from  their  position  to  take  a  sub- 
ordinate place.  Such  sacrifices  as  these,  gentlemen,  deserve 
all  honor,  for  they  are  the  hardest  of  all.  This  was  the  task 
which  Birotteau  laid  upon  himself." 

The  attorney  read  an  abbreviated  version  of  the  schedule, 
giving  the  names  of  the  creditors  and  the  balances  due  to 
them. 

"  Every  one  of  these  amounts,  gentlemen,  has  been  paid, 
interest  included.  The  receipts  have  not  been  given  by 
notes  of  hand  which  demand  investigation,  but  by  certificates 
of  payment  made  in  the  presence  of  a  notary,  documents 
which  do  not  abuse  the  good  faith  of  the  court,  though,  never- 
theless, the  inquiries  required  by  the  law  have  been  duly 
made.  You,  therefore,  restore  to  Birotteau  not  his  honor, 
22 


338  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

but  the  civil  and  political  privileges  of  which  he  has  been 
deprived,  and  in  so  doing  you  do  justice.  Such  cases  come 
so  seldom  before  you  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  giving 
expression  to  our  admiration  of  the  conduct  of  the  applicant, 
who  has  already  received  the  encouragement  of  august  patron- 
age." 

With  that,  he  read  the  formal  application.  The  court 
deliberated  without  retiring,  and  the  president  rose  to  pro- 
nounce the  decree. 

"  The  court  charges  me  to  inform  Monsieur  Birotteau  of 
the  satisfaction  with  which  the  decree,  granted  under  such 
circumstances,  is  passed.  Call  the  next  case." 

Birotteau,  already  invested  with  a  caftan  of  honor  by  the 
attorney-general's  speech,  was  struck  dumb  with  joy  when 
he  heard  these  solemn  words  from  the  president  of  the  highest 
Court  of  Appeal  in  France,  words  which  made  those  who 
heard  them  feel  that  the  impassive  Themis  had  a  heart.  He 
could  not  move  from  his  place,  he  seemed  to  be  glued  to  the 
floor,  and  gazed  with  bewildered  eyes  at  the  councilors,  who 
seemed  to  him  like  angels  who  had  opened  the  gates  which 
admitted  him  to  life  among  his  fellows.  His  uncle  took  him 
by  the  arm  and  drew  him  away.  Then  Cesar,  who  had  not 
obeyed  the  desire  of  Louis  XVIII.,  fastened  the  red  ribbon 
at  his  button-hole,  like  a  man  in  a  dream,  and  went  down  in 
triumph  with  his  friends  about  him  to  the  hackney-cab. 

"Where  are  you  taking  me?  "  he  asked  of  Joseph  Lebas, 
Pillerault,  and  Ragon. 

"Home." 

"  No.  It  is  three  o'clock ;  I  want  to  go  on  'Change  again, 
now  that  I  have  the  right." 

"To  the  Exchange,"  Pillerault  gave  the  order  and  looked 
significantly  at  Lebas,  for  there  were  symptoms  which  made 
him  uneasy;  he  feared  for  Birotteau's  reason. 

So  Birotteau  went  back  on  'Change  between  his  uncle  and 
Joseph  Lebas;  the  two  merchants  whom  every  one  respected 


CESA R  BIRO TTEA U.  L>39 

linked  their  arms  in  his.  The  news  of  his  rehabilitation  was 
abroad.  Du  Tillet  was  the  first  to  see  the  three  and  old 
Ragon,  who  followed  behind. 

"Ah!  my  dear  master!  Delighted  to  hear  that  you  have 
pulled  through  your  difficulties.  Perhaps  I  contributed  to 
bring  about  this  happy  termination  by  allowing  little  Popinot 
to  pluck  me  so  easily.  I  am  as  glad  of  your  happiness  as  if 
it  were  my  own." 

"  It  is  the  only  way  open  to  you,"  said  Pillerault,  "for  you 
will  never  experience  it  yourself." 

"What  do  you  mean,  sir?"  asked  du  Tillet. 

"A  good  dig  in  the  ribs,  by  George,"  said  Lebas,  smiling 
at  Pillerault's  malicious  revenge.  He  knew  nothing  of  the 
part  that  du  Tillet  had  played,  but  he  looked  on  him  as  a 
scoundrel. 

Matifat  saw  Cdsar,  and  immediately  all  the  most  respected 
merchants  crowded  about  the  perfumer  ;  he  received  an  ovation 
on  'Change,  the  most  flattering  congratulations  and  hand- 
shakes, which  caused  here  and  there  some  heart-burnings  and 
here  and  there  a  pang  of  remorse,  for  fifty  out  of  every  hun- 
dred present  had  been  insolvent  at  some  time  or  other. 

Gigonnet  and  Gobseck,  chatting  in  a  corner,  stared  at 
Ce"sar  as  the  learned  must  have  stared  when  the  first  electric 
eel  was  brought  for  their  inspection  and  they  beheld  that 
strange  curiosity,  a  living  leyden  jar. 

Then,  still  breathing  the  incense  of  triumph,  Cesar  went 
out  to  the  cab  and  drove  home  to  his  house,  where  the  mar- 
riage-contract between  his  dear  child  Cesarine  and  the  de- 
voted Popinot  was  to  be  signed  that  evening.  He  laughed 
nervously,  in  a  way  that  alarmed  his  three  old  friends. 

It  is  one  of  the  mistakes  of  youth  to  imagine  that  every  one 
has  the  vitality  of  youth,  a  defect  nearly  akin  to  its  best  en- 
dowment ;  for  youth  does  not  behold  life  through  a  pair  of 
spectacles,  but  through  the  radiant  hues  of  a  reflected  glow, 
and  age  itself  is  credited  with  its  own  exuberant  life.  Popi- 


340  CESAR   BIROTTEAU. 

not,  like  Cesar  and  Constance,  cherished  memories  of  the 
pomp  and  splendor  of  the  ball :  the  strains  of  Collinet's 
orchestra  had  often  rung  in  his  ears;  he  had  seen  the  gay 
throng  of  dancers,  and  tasted  the  joy  so  cruelly  punished,  as 
Adam  and  Eve  might  have  thought  of  the  forbidden  fruit 
which  banished  them  from  the  Garden,  and  brought  Death 
and  Birth  into  the  world,  for  it  seems  that  the  multiplication 
of  the  angels  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Paradise  above. 

Popinot,  however,  could  think  of  that  night's  festivity  not 
only  without  remorse,  but  with  joy  in  his  heart,  for  then  it 
was  that  Cesarine  in  all  her  glory  had  given  her  promise  to 
him  in  his  poverty.  That  evening  he  had  known  beyond  all 
doubt  that  he  was  loved  for  himself  alone.  So  when  he  paid 
Celestin  for  the  rooms  which  Grindot  had  restored,  and  stipu- 
lated that  everything  should  be  left  untouched  ;  when  he  had 
carefully  seen  that  the  merest  trifles  belonging  to  Cesar  and 
Constance  were  in  their  place,  he  had  dreamed  of  giving  a 
ball  there  on  the  day  of  his  wedding.  The  preparations  for 
the  fete  had  been  a  work  of  love.  It  should  be  exactly  like 
the  previous  one,  except  in  the  extravagances.  Extravagance 
was  over  and  done  with.  Still,  the  dinner  was  to  be  served 
by  Chevet,  and  the  guests  were  almost  the  same.  The  Abbe 
Loraux  took  the  place  of  the  grand  chancellor;  and  Lebas, 
the  president  of  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  was  to  be  there. 
Popinot  added  M.  Camusot's  name  to  the  list,  as  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  kindness  he  had  shown  to  Birotteau  in  so 
many  ways.  M.  de  Vandenesse  and  M.  de  Fontaine  took  the 
place  of  M.  and  Mme.  Roguin. 

Cesarine  and  Popinot  had  exercised  their  discretion  in  the 
matter  of  invitations  to  the  ball.  They  both  shrank  from 
making  a  festival  of  their  wedding,  and  had  avoided  the  pub- 
licity which  jars  on  pure  and  tender  hearts  by  giving  the 
dance  on  the  occasion  of  the  signing  of  the  contract.  Con- 
stance had  found  the  cherry-colored  velvet  dress  in  which  she 
had  shone  for  the  brief  space  of  a  single  day;  and  Cdsarine 


CESAR   BIROTTEAU.  341 

had  pleased  herself  by  surprising  Popinot  in  the  ball-dress  of 
which  he  had  talked  times  out  of  mind.  So  the  house  was  to 
wear  the  same  air  of  an  enchanted  festival,  and  neither  Con- 
stance, nor  Cesarine,  nor  Anselme  thought  that  there  was  any 
danger  for  Cesar  in  this  joyful  surprise.  They  waited  till 
four  o'clock,  and  grew  almost  childish  in  their  happiness. 

After  the  hero  of  the  hour  had  passed  through  the  inde- 
scribable emotions  of  returning  to  the  Exchange,  a  fresh 
shock  awaited  him  in  the  Rue  Saint-Honore.  As  he  came  up 
the  stairs,  which  still  looked  new,  he  saw  his  wife  in  the 
cherry-colored  velvet  dress ;  he  saw  Cesarine,  the  Comte  de 
Fontaine,  the  Vicomte  de  Vandenesse,  the  Baron  de  la  Bil- 
lardiere,  and  the  great  Vauquelin  ;  a  light  film  spread  over  his 
eyes,  and  Uncle  Pillerault,  on  whose  arm  he  leaned,  felt  the 
shudder  that  ran  through  his  nephew. 

"It  is  too  much  for  him,"  the  old  philosopher  said  to  the 
enamored  Anselme;  "  he  will  not  stand  all  the  wine  which  you 
have  poured  out  for  him." 

But  all  hearts  beat  so  high  with  joy  that  Cesar's  emotion 
and  tottering  steps  were  ascribed  to  an  intoxication,  very 
natural,  as  they  thought — but  not  seldom  fatal.  When  he 
looked  round  the  drawing-room  and  saw  it  filled  with  guests 
and  women  in  ball  toilets,  the  sublime  rhythm  of  the  finale 
of  Beethoven's  great  symphony  beat  in  his  pulses  and  flooded 
his  brain.  That  imaginary  music  streamed  in  on  him  like 
rays  of  light,  sparkling  from  modulation  to  modulation  ;  it  was 
to  be,  indeed,  the  finale  that  rang  clear  and  high  through  the 
recesses  of  the  tired  brain.  Overcome  by  the  harmony  that 
swept  through  him,  he  laid  his  hand  on  his  wife's  arm,  and 
in  tones,  rendered  almost  inaudible  by  the  effort  to  keep  back 
the  flowing  blood  which  filled  his  mouth — 

"  I  am  not  well,"  he  said. 

Constance,  in  alarm,  led  her  husband  to  her  room  ;  he  was 
barely  able  to  reach  the  armchair,  into  which  he  sank,  ex- 
claiming, "Monsieur  Haudry  !  Monsieur  Loraux  !  " 


342  CESAR  BIROTTEAU. 

The  abbe  came  in,  followed  by  the  guests  and  women  in 
evening  dress,  who  stood  in  consternation.  Cesar,  in  the 
midst  of  this  brightly  colored  throng,  grasped  his  confessor's 
hand,  and  laid  his  head  on  the  breast  of  the  wife  who  knelt 
beside  him.  A  bloodvessel  had  been  ruptured  in  the  lungs 
and  the  resulting  aneurism  was  stopping  his  last  breath. 

"Behold  the  death  of  the  righteous!"  the  Abbe  Loraux 
said  solemnly,  as  he  stretched  his  hand  toward  Cesar  with  one 
of  those  divine  gestures  which  Rembrandt's  inspiration  be- 
held and  recorded  in  his  picture  of  Christ  raising  Lazarus 
from  the  dead. 

Christ  bade  Earth  surrender  her  prey  ;  the  good  priest  sped 
a  soul  to  heaven,  where  the  martyr  to  commercial  integrity 
should  receive  an  unfading  palm. 


CAUDISSART  THE  GREAT. 


GAUDISSART  THE  GREAT 

(L '  Illustre  Gaudissart) . 
PARISIANS  IN  THE  COUNTRY. 

Translated  by  JAMBS  WARING. 

To  Madame  la  Duchesse  de  Castries. 

Is  not  the  commercial  traveler — a  being  quite  unknown  in 
earlier  times — one  of  the  most  curious  types  produced  by 
the  manners  and  customs  of  this  age  ?  And  is  it  not  his 
peculiar  function  to  carry  out  in  a  certain  class  of  things 
the  immense  transition  which  connects  the  age  of  material 
development  with  that  of  intellectual  development?  Our 
epoch  will  be  the  link  between  the  age  of  isolated  forces 
rich  in  original  creativeness  and  that  of  the  uniform  but 
leveling  force  which  gives  monotony  to  its  products,  casting 
them  in  masses,  and  following  out  one  unifying  idea — the 
ultimate  expression  of  social  communities.  After  the  Satur- 
nalia of  intellectual  communism,  after  the  last  struggles  of 
many  civilizations  concentrating  all  the  treasures  of  the 
world  on  a  single  spot,  must  not  the  darkness  of  barbarism 
invariably  supervene  ? 

The  commercial  traveler  is  to  ideas  what  coaches  are  to 
men  and  things.  He  carts  them  about ;  he  sets  them 
moving,  brings  them  into  impact.  He  loads  himself  at 
the  centre  of  enlightenment  with  a  supply  of  beams  which 
he  scatters  among  torpid  communities.  This  human  pyro- 
phoros  is  an  ignorant  instructor,  mystified  and  mystifying, 
a  disbelieving  priest  who  talks  all  the  more  glibly  of  arcana 
and  dogmas.  A  strange  figure !  The  man  has  seen  every- 

(343) 


314  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

thing,  he  knows  everything,  he  is  acquainted  with  everybody. 
Saturated  in  Parisian  vice,  he  can  assume  the  rusticity  of  the 
countryman.  Is  he  not  the  link  that  joins  the  village  to  the 
capital,  though  himself  not  essentially  either  Parisian  or  pro- 
vincial? 

For  he  is  a  wanderer.  He  never  sees  to  the  bottom  of 
things;  he  learns  only  the  names  of  men  and  places,  only 
the  surface  of  things ;  he  has  his  own  foot-rule  and  measures 
everything  by  that  standard ;  his  glance  glides  over  all  he 
sees,  and  never  penetrates  the  depths.  He  is  inquisitive 
about  everything,  and  really  cares  for  nothing.  A  scoffer, 
always  ready  with  a  political  song,  and  apparently  equally 
attached  to  all  parties,  he  is  generally  patriotic  at  heart.  A 
good  actor,  he  can  assume  by  turns  the  smile  of  liking,  satis- 
faction, and  obligingness,  or  cast  it  off  and  appear  in  his 
true  character,  in  the  normal  frame  which  is  his  state  of 
rest. 

He  is  bound  to  be  an  observer  or  to  renounce  his  calling. 
Is  he  not  constantly  compelled  to  sound  a  man  at  a  glance, 
and  guess  his  mode  of  action,  his  character,  and,  above  all, 
his  solvency  ;  and,  in  order  to  save  time,  to  calculate  swiftly 
the  chances  of  profit  ?  This  habit  of  deciding  promptly  in 
matters  of  business  makes  him  essentially  dogmatic  ;  he  settles 
questions  out  of  hand  and  talks,  as  a  master,  of  the  Paris 
theatres  and  actors,  and  of  those  in  the  provinces.  Beside, 
he  knows  all  the  good  and  all  the  bad  places  in  the  kingdom, 
by  both  doing  and  seeing.  He  would  steer  you  with  equal 
confidence  to  the  abode  of  virtue  or  of  vice.  Gifted  as  he  is 
with  the  eloquence  of  a  hot-water  tap  turned  on  at  will,  he 
can  with  equal  readiness  stop  short  or  begin  again,  without  a 
mistake,  his  stream  of  ready-made  phrases,  flowing  without 
pause,  and  producing  on  the  victim  the  effect  of  a  moral 
douche.  He  is  full  of  pertinent  anecdotes,  he  smokes,  he 
drinks.  He  wears  a  chain  with  seals  and  trinkets,  he  im- 
presses the  "small  fry,"  is  looked  at  as  a  milord  in  the  vil- 


GAl'DlSSART  THE   GREAT.  345 

lages,  never  allows  himself  to  be  "  got  over  " — a  word  of  his 
slang — and  knows  exactly  when  to  slap  his  pocket  and  make 
the  money  jingle  so  as  not  to  be  taken  for  a  "sneak"  by 
the  women  servants — a  suspicious  race — of  the  houses  he 
calls  at. 

As  to  his  energy,  is  it  not  the  least  of  the  characteristics  of 
this  human  machine  ?  Not  the  kite  pouncing  on  its  prey, 
not  the  stag  inventing  fresh  doublings  to  escape  the  hounds 
and  put  the  hunter  off  the  trail,  not  the  dogs  coursing  the 
game,  can  compare  with  the  swiftness  of  his  rush  when  he 
scents  a  commission,  the  neatness  with  which  he  trips  up  a 
rival  to  gain  upon  him,  the  keenness  with  which  he  feels, 
sniffs,  and  spies  out  an  opportunity  for  "doing  business." 
How  many  special  talents  must  such  a  man  possess  !  And 
how  many  will  you  find  in  any  country  of  these  diplomats  of 
the  lower  class,  profound  negotiators,  representatives  of  the 
calico,  jewelry,  cloth,  or  wine  trades,  and  often  with  more 
acumen  than  ambassadors,  who  are  indeed  for  the  most  part 
but  superficial  ? 

Nobody  in  France  suspects  the  immense  power  constantly 
wielded  by  the  commercial  traveler,  the  bold  pioneer  of  the 
transactions  which  embody  to  the  humblest  hamlet  the  genius 
of  civilization  and  Parisian  inventiveness  in  its  struggle  against 
the  commonsense,  the  ignorance,  or  the  habits  of  rustic  life. 
We  must  not  overlook  these  ingenious  laborers,  by  whom  the 
intelligence  of  the  masses  is  kneaded,  moulding  the  most  re- 
fractory material  by  sheer  talk,  and  resembling  in  this  the  per- 
severing polishers  whose  file  licks  the  hardest  porphyry  smooth. 
Do  you  want  to  know  the  power  of  the  tongue  and  the  co- 
ercive force  of  mere  phrases  on  the  most  tenacious  coin  known 
— that  of  the  country  freeholder  in  his  rustic  lair?  Then 
listen  to  what  some  high  dignitary  of  Paris  industry  can  tell 
you,  for  whose  benefit  these  clever  pistons  of  the  steam-engine 
called  speculation  work,  and  strike,  and  squeeze. 

"Monsieur,"   said  the  director-cashier-manager-secretary- 


346  GAUD1SSART  THE    GREAT. 

and-chairman  of  a  famous  fire  insurance  company  to  an  ex- 
perienced economist,  "  in  the  country,  out  of  five  hundred 
thousand  francs  to  be  collected  in  renewing  insurances,  not 
more  than  fifty  thousand  are  paid  willingly.  The  other  four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  are  only  extracted  by  the  persist- 
ency of  our  agents,  who  go  to  dun  the  customers  who  are  in 
arrears  till  they  have  renewed  their  policies,  and  frighten  and 
excite  them  by  fearful  tales  of  fires.  Eloquence,  the  gift  of 
the  gab,  is,  in  fact,  nine-tenths  of  the  matter  in  the  ways  and 
means  of  working  our  business." 

To  talk — to  make  one's  self  heard — is  not  this  seduction  ? 
A  nation  with  two  Chambers,  a  woman  with  two  ears,  alike 
are  lost !  Eve  and  the  serpent  are  the  perennial  myth  of  a 
daily  recurring  fact  which  began  and  will  probably  only  end 
with  the  world. 

"After  two  hours'  talk  you  ought  to  have  won  a  man  over 
to  your  side,"  said  an  attorney  who  had  retired  from  business. 

Walk  round  the  commercial  traveler  !  Study  the  man. 
Note  his  olive-green  overcoat,  his  cloak,  his  morocco  stock, 
his  pipe,  his  blue-striped  cotton  shirt.  In  that  figure,  so 
genuinely  original  that  it  can  stand  friction,  how  many  dif- 
ferent natures  you  may  discover.  See  !  What  an  athlete, 
what  a  circus,  and  what  a  weapon  !  He — the  world — and  his 
tongue. 

A  daring  seaman,  he  embarks  with  a  stock  of  mere  words 
to  go  and  fish  for  money,  five  or  six  hundred  thousand  francs, 
say,  in  the  frozen  ocean,  the  land  of  savages,  of  Iroqnois — in 
France  !  The  task  before  him  is  to  extract  by  a  purely  mental 
process  and  painless  operation  the  gold  that  lies  buried  in 
rural  hiding-places.  The  provincial  fish  will  not  stand  the 
harpoon  or  the  torch ;  it  is  only  to  be  caught  in  the  seine  or 
the  landing-net — the  gentlest  snare. 

Can  you  ever  think  again  without  a  shudder  of  the  deluge 
of  phrases  which  begins  anew  every  day  at  dawn  in  France  ? 
You  know  the  genus ;  now  for  the  individual. 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  347 

There  dwells  in  Paris  a  matchless  drummer,  the  paragon  of 
his  kind,  a  man  possessing  in  the  highest  degree  every  condi- 
tion indispensable  to  success  in  his  profession.  In  his  words 
vitriol  mingles  with  bird-lime :  bird-lime  to  catch  the  victim, 
besmear  it  and  stick  it  to  the  trapper,  vitriol  to  dissolve  the 
hardest  limestone. 

His  "line"  was  hats — he  traveled  in  hats;  but  his  gifts, 
and  the  skill  with  which  he  ensnared  folk,  had  earned  him 
such  commercial  celebrity  that  dealers  in  I1  Article  Paris*  the 
dainty  novelties  invented  in  Paris  workshops,  positively  courted 
him  to  undertake  their  business.  Thus,  when  he  was  in  Paris, 
on  his  return  from  some  triumphant  progress,  he  was  perpetu- 
ally being  feasted  ;  in  the  provinces  the  agents  made  much  of 
him  ;  in  Paris  the  largest  houses  were  respectful  to  him.  Wel- 
comed, entertained,  and  fed  wherever  he  went,  to  him  a 
breakfast  or  a  dinner  in  solitude  was  a  pleasure  and  a  debauch. 
He  led  the  life  of  a  sovereign — nay,  better,  of  a  journalist. 
And  was  he  not  the  living  organ  of  Paris  trade? 

His  name  was  Gaudissart ;  and  his  fame,  his  influence,  and 
the  praises  poured  on  him  had  gained  him  the  epithet  of 
Gaudissart  the  Great.  Wherever  he  made  his  appearance, 
whether  in  a  counting-house  or  an  inn,  in  a  drawing-room  or 
a  diligence,  in  a  garret  or  a  bank,  each  one  would  exclaim  on 
seeing  him,  "Ah,  ha  !  here  is  Gaudissart  the  Great !  " 

Never  was  a  nickname  better  suited  to  the  appearance,  the 
manners,  the  countenance,  the  voice,  or  the  language  of  a 
man.  Everything  smiled  on  the  traveler,  and  he  smiled  on 
all.  Similia  Similibus  ;  he  was  for  homoeopathy:  Puns,  a 
horse-laugh,  the  complexion  of  a  jolly  friar,  a  Rabelaisian 
aspect ;  dress,  mien,  character,  and  face  combined  to  give  his 
whole  person  a  stamp  of  jollification  and  ribaldry. 

Blunt  in  business,  good-natured  and  capital  fun,  you  would 
have  known  him  at  once  for  a  favorite  of  the  grisette — a  man 
who  can  climb  with  a  grace  to  the  top  of  a  coach,  offer  a  hand 
*  Fancy  notions. 


348  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

to  a  lady  in  difficulties  over  getting  out,  jest  with  the  postillion 
about  his  bandana,  and  sell  him  a  hat;  smile  at  the  inn-maid, 
taking  her  by  the  waist — or  by  the  fancy  ;  who  at  table  will 
imitate  the  gurgle  of  a  bottle  by  tapping  his  cheek  while  put- 
ting his  tongue  in  it,  knows  how  to  make  beer  go  off  by  draw- 
ing the  air  between  his  lips,  can  hit  a  champagne  glass  a  sharp 
blow  with  a  knife  without  breaking  it,  saying  to  the  others, 
"Can  you  do  that?" — who  chaffs  shy  travelers,  contradicts 
well-informed  men,  is  supreme  at  table,  and  secures  all  the 
best  bits. 

A  clever  man,  too,  he  could  on  occasion  put  aside  all  such 
pleasantries  and  look  very  serious  when,  throwing  away  the 
end  of  his  cigar,  he  would  look  out  on  a  town  and  say,  "I 
mean  to  see  what  the  folk  here  are  made  of."  Then  Gaudis- 
sart  was  the  most  cunning  and  shrewd  of  ambassadors.  He 
knew  how  to  be  the  official  with  the  prefect,  the  capitalist  with 
the  banker,  orthodox  and  monarchical  with  the  Royalist,  the 
blunt  citizen  with  the  citizen — in  short,  all  things  to  all 
men,  just  what  he  ought  to  be  wherever  he  went,  leaving 
Gaudissart  outside  the  door,  and  finding  him  again  as  he  went 
out. 

Until  1830  Gaudissart  the  Great  remained  faithful  to  the 
Article  Paris.  This  line  of  business,  in  all  its  branches,  ap- 
pealing to  the  greater  number  of  human  fancies,  had  enabled 
him  to  study  the  secrets  of  the  heart,  had  taught  him  the  uses 
of  his  persuasive  eloquence,  the  way  to  open  the  most  closely 
tied  money-bags,  to  incite  the  fancy  of  wives  and  husbands, 
of  children  and  servants,  and  to  persuade  them  to  gratify  it. 
None  so  well  as  he  knew  how  to  lure  a  dealer  by  the  tempta- 
tions of  a  job,  and  to  turn  away  at  the  moment  when  his  desire 
for  the  bait  was  at  a  climax.  He  acknowledged  his  indebted- 
ness to  the  hatter's  trade,  saying  that  it  was  by  studying  the 
outside  of  the  head  that  he  had  learned  to  understand  its  in- 
side, that  he  was  accustomed  to  find  caps  to  fit  folk,  to  throw 


GALDISSART  THE    GREAT.  349 

himself  at  their  head,  and  so  forth.  His  jests  on  hats  were 
inexhaustible. 

Nevertheless,  after  the  August  and  October  of  1830,  he 
gave  up  traveling  in  hats  and  the  Article  Paris,  and  left  off 
trading  in  all  things  mechanical  and  visible  to  soar  in  the 
loftier  spheres  of  Parisian  enterprise.  He  had  given  up  matter 
for  mind,  as  he  himself  said,  and  manufactured  products  for 
the  infinitely  more  subtle  outcome  of  the  intellect. 

This  needs  explanation. 

The  stir  and  upset  of  1830  gave  rise,  as  everybody  knows, 
to  the  new  birth  of  various  antiquated  ideas  which  skillful 
speculators  strove  to  rejuvenate.  After  1830  ideas  were  more 
than  ever  a  marketable  commodity ;  and,  as  was  once  said  by 
a  writer  who  is  clever  enough  to  publish  nothing,  more  ideas 
than  pocket-handkerchiefs  are  filched  nowadays.  Some  day, 
perhaps,  there  may  be  an  Exchange  for  ideas ;  but  even  now, 
good  or  bad,  ideas  have  their  price,  are  regarded  as  a  crop 
imported,  transferred,  and  sold,  can  be  realized,  and  are 
viewed  as  an  investment.  When  there  are  no  ideas  in  the 
market,  speculators  try  to  bring  words  into  fashion,  to  give 
them  the  consistency  of  an  idea,  and  live  on  those  words  as 
birds  live  on  millet. 

Nay,  do  not  laugh  !  A  word  is  as  good  as  an  idea  in  a 
country  where  the  ticket  on  the  bale  is  thought  more  of  than 
the  contents.  Have  we  not  seen  the  book -trade  thriving  on 
the  word  "picturesque"  when  literature  had  sealed  the  doom 
of  the  word  "  fantastic." 

Consequently,  the  excise  has  levied  a  tax  on  the  intellect ; 
it  has  exactly  measured  the  acreage  of  advertisements,  has 
assessed  the  prospectus,  and  weighed  thought — Rue  de  la  Paix 
Hdtel  du  Timbre  (the  Stamp  Office).  On  being  constituted 
taxable  goods,  the  intellect  and  its  products  were  bound  to 
obey  the  method  used  in  manufacturing  undertakings.  Thus 
the  ideas  conceived  after  drinking  in  the  brain  of  some  of 
those  apparently  idle  Parisians  who  do  battle  on  intellectual 


350  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

ground  while  emptying  a  bottle  or  carving  a  pheasant's  thigh, 
were  handed  over  the  day  after  their  mental  birth  to  com- 
mercial travelers,  whose  business  it  was  to  set  forth,  with  due 
skill,  urbi  et  orbi,  the  fried  bacon  of  advertisement  and  pros- 
pectus by  which  the  departmental  mouse  is  tempted  into  the 
editor's  trap,  and  becomes  known  in  the  vulgar  tongue  as  a 
subscriber,  or  a  shareholder,  a  corresponding  member,  or, 
perhaps,  a  backer  or  a  part  owner — and  being  always  a  flat. 

"What  a  flat  I  am!"  has  more  than  one  poor  investor 
exclaimed  after  being  tempted  by  the  prospect  of  founding 
something,  which  has  finally  proved  to  be  the  founding  that 
melts  down  some  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  francs. 

"  Subscribers  are  the  fools  who  cannot  understand  that  it 
costs  more  to  forge  ahead  in  the  realm  of  intellect  than  to 
travel  all  over  Europe,"  is  the  speculator's  view. 

So  there  is  a  constant  struggle  going  on  between  the  dilatory 
public  which  declines  to  pay  the  Paris  taxes  and  the  collectors 
who,  living  on  their  percentages,  baste  that  public  with  new 
ideas,  lard  it  with  undertakings,  roast  it  with  prospectuses, 
spit  it  on  flattery,  and  at  last  eat  it  up  with  some  new  sauce 
in  which  it  gets  caught  and  intoxicated  like  a  fly  in  molasses. 
What  has  not  been  done  in  France  since  1830  to  stimulate 
the  zeal,  the  conceit  of  the  intelligent  and  progressive  masses? 
Titles,  medals,  diplomas,  a  sort  of  Legion  of  Honor,  invented 
for  the  vulgar  martyrs,  have  crowded  on  each  other's  heels. 
And  then  every  manufacturer  of  intellectual  commodities  has 
discovered  a  spice,  a  special  condiment,  his  particular  make- 
weight. Hence  the  promises  of  premiums  and  of  anticipated 
dividends;  hence  the  advertisements  of  celebrated  names 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  hapless  artists  who  own  them, 
and  thus  find  themselves  implicated  unawares  in  more  under- 
takings than  there  are  days  in  the  year ;  for  the  law  could 
not  foresee  this  theft  of  names.  Hence,  too,  this  rape  of 
ideas  which  the  contractors  for  public  intelligence — like  the 
slave  merchants  of  the  East — snatch  from  the  paternal  brain 


GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT.  361 

at  a  tender  age,  and  strip  and  parade  before  the  greenhorn, 
their  bewildered  Sultan  the  terrible  public,  who,  if  not 
amused,  beheads  them  by  stopping  their  rations  of  gold. 

This  mania  of  the  day  reacted  on  Gaudissart  the  Great, 
and  this  was  how :  A  company  gotten  up  to  effect  insurances 
on  life  and  property  heard  of  his  irresistible  eloquence  and 
offered  him  extraordinarily  handsome  terms,  which  he  ac- 
cepted. The  bargain  concluded,  the  compact  signed,  the 
drummer  was  weaned  of  the  past  under  the  eye  of  the  secre- 
tary of  the  society,  who  freed  Gaudissart's  mind  of  its 
swaddling-clothes,  explained  the  dark  corners  of  the  business, 
taught  him  its  lingo,  showed  him  all  the  mechanism  bit  by 
bit,  anatomized  the  particular  class  of  the  public  on  whom  he 
was  to  work,  stuffed  him  with  cant  phrases,  crammed  him 
with  repartees,  stocked  him  with  peremptory  arguments,  and, 
so  to  speak,  put  an  edge  on  the  tongue  that  was  to  operate  on 
life  in  France.  The  puppet  responded  admirably  to  the  care 
lavished  on  him  by  Monsieur  the  Secretary. 

The  directors  of  the  insurance  company  were  so  loud  in 
their  praises  of  Gaudissart  the  Great,  showed  him  so  much 
attention,  put  the  talents  of  this  living  prospectus  in  so  favor- 
able a  light  in  the  higher  circles  of  banking  and  of  intellec- 
tual diplomacy,  that  the  financial  managers  of  two  news- 
papers, then  living  but  since  dead,  thought  of  employing  him 
to  tout  for  subscriptions.  The  "Globe,"  the  organ  of  the 
doctrines  of  Saint-Simon,  and  the  "  Mouvement,"  a  Repub- 
lican paper,  invited  Gaudissart  the  Great  to  their  private 
offices  and  promised  him,  each,  ten  francs  a  head  on  every 
subscriber  if  he  secured  a  thousand,  but  only  five  francs  a 
head  if  he  could  catch  no  more  than  five  hundred.  As  the 
line  of  the  political  paper  did  not  interfere  with  that  of  the 
insurance  company,  the  bargain  was  concluded.  At  the 
same  time,  Gaudissart  demanded  an  indemnity  of  five  hun- 
dred francs  for  the  week  he  must  spend  in  "getting  up  "  the 
doctrine  of  Saint-Simon,  pointing  out  what  efforts  of  memory 


3o2  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT, 

and  brain  would  be  necessary  to  enable  him  to  become  thor- 
oughly conversant  with  this  article,  and  to  talk  of  it  so  coher- 
ently as  to  avoid,  said  he,  "  putting  his  foot  in  it." 

He  made  no  claim  on  the  Republicans.  In  the  first  place, 
he  himself  had  a  leaning  to  Republican  notions — the  only 
views  according  to  the  Gaudissart  philosophy  that  could  bring 
about  rational  equality;  and  then  Gaudissart  had  ere  now 
dabbled  in  the  plots  of  the  French  carbonari  (Nativists  and 
Extreme  Democrats).  He  had  even  been  arrested,  but  re- 
leased for  lack  of  evidence ;  and,  finally,  he  pointed  out  to 
the  backers  of  the  paper  that  since  July  he  had  allowed  his 
mustache  to  grow,  and  that  he  now  only  needed  a  particular 
shape  of  cap  and  long  spurs  to  be  representative  of  the  Re- 
public. 

So  for  a  week  he  went  every  morning  to  be  Saint-Simonized 
at  the  "Globe"  office,  and  every  evening  he  haunted  the 
bureau  of  the  insurance  company  to  learn  the  elegancies  of 
financial  slang.  His  aptitude  and  memory  were  so  good  that 
he  was  ready  to  start  by  the  i5th  of  April,  the  date  at  which 
he  usually  set  out  on  his  first  annual  circuit. 

Two  large  commercial  houses,  alarmed  at  the  downward 
tendency  of  trade,  tempted  the  ambitious  Gaudissart  still  to 
undertake  their  agency,  and  the  King  of  Commercial  Trav- 
elers showed  his  clemency  in  consideration  of  old  friendship 
and  of  the  enormous  percentage  he  was  to  take. 

"  Listen  to  me,  my  little  Jenny,"  said  he,  riding  in  a  hack 
with  a  pretty  little  flower-maker. 

Every  truly  great  man  loves  to  be  tyrannized  over  by  some 
feeble  creature,  and  Jenny  was  Gaudissart's  tyrant;  he  was 
seeing  her  home  at  eleven  o'clock  from  the  Gymnase  theatre, 
where  he  had  taken  her  in  full  dress  to  a  private  box  on  the 
first  tier. 

"  When  I  come  back,  Jenny,  I  will  furnish  your  room  quite 
elegantly.  That  gawky  Mathilde,  who  makes  you  sick  with 
her  innuendoes,  her  real  Indian  shawls  brought  by  the  Rus- 


GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT.  353 

sian  ambassador's  messengers,  her  silver-gilt,  and  her  Russian 
Prince — who  is,  it  strikes  me,  a  rank  humbug — even  she  shall 
not  find  a  fault  in  it.  I  will  devote  all  the  '  Children  '  I  can 
get  in  the  provinces  to  the  decoration  of  your  room." 

"Well,  that  is  a  nice  story,  I  must  say,"  cried  the  florist. 
"  What,  you  monster  of  a  man,  you  talk  to  me  so  coolly  of 
your  children  !  Do  you  suppose  that  I  will  put  up  with  any- 
thing of  that  kind?" 

"  Pshaw  !  Jenny,  are  you  out  of  your  wits  ?  It  is  a  way  of 
talking  in  my  line  of  business." 

"A  pretty  line  of  business  indeed  !  " 

"  Well,  but  listen  ;  if  you  go  on  talking  so  much,  you  will 
find  yourself  in  the  right." 

"  I  choose  always  to  be  in  the  right !  I  may  say  you  are  a 
cool  hand  to-night." 

"You  will  not  let  me  say  what  I  have  to  say?  I  have  to 
push  a  most  capital  idea,  a  magazine  that  is  to  be  brought  out 
for  children.  In  our  walk  of  life  a  traveler,  when  he  has 
worked  up  a  town  and  got,  let  us  say,  ten  subscriptions  to  the 
'  Children's  Magazine,'  says  I  have  gotten  ten  '  Children  ; '  just 
as,  if  I  had  ten  subscriptions  to  the  'Mouvement,'  I  should 
simply  say  I  have  gotten  ten  '  Mouvements.'  Now  do  you  un- 
derstand ?" 

"A  pretty  thing  too!  So  you  are  meddling  in  politics? 
I  can  see  you  already  in  Sainte-Pelagie,  and  shall  have  to  trot 
there  to  see  you  every  day.  Oh,  when  we  love  a  man,  my 
word  !  If  we  knew  what  we  are  in  for,  we  should  leave  you 
to  manage  for  yourselves,  you  men  !  Well,  well,  you  are 
going  to-morrow,  don't  let  us  get  the  black  dog  on  our 
shoulders  ;  it  is  too  silly." 

The  cab  drew  up  before  a  pretty  house,  newly  built,  in  the 
Rue  d'Artois,  where  Gaudissart  and  Jenny  went  up  to  the 
fourth  floor.  Here  resided  Mademoiselle  Jenny  Courand, 
who  was  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  privately  married 
to  Gaudissart,  a  report  which  the  traveler  did  not  deny.  To 
23 


354  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

maintain  her  power  over  him,  Jenny  Courand  compelled  him 
to  pay  her  a  thousand  little  attentions,  always  threatening  to 
abandon  him  to  his  fate  if  he  failed  in  the  least  of  them. 
Gaudissart  was  to  write  to  her  from  each  town  he  stopped  at 
and  give  an  account  of  every  action. 

"And  how  many  '  Children  '  will  you  want  to  furnish  my 
room?"  said  she,  throwing  off  her  shawl  and  sitting  down 
by  a  good  fire. 

"  I  get  five  sous  on  each  subscription." 

"  A  pretty  joke  !  Do  you  expect  to  make  me  a  rich  woman 
— five  sous  at  a  time  ?  Unless  you  are  a  wandering  Jew  and 
have  your  pocket  sewn  up  tight." 

"But,  Jenny,  I  shall  get  thousands  of  'Children.'  Just 
think,  the  little  ones  have  never  had  a  paper  of  their  own. 
However,  I  am  a  great  simpleton  to  try  to  explain  the  econ- 
omy of  business  to  you — you  understand  nothing  about  such 
matters." 

"  And  pray,  then,  Gaudissart,  if  I  am  such  a  gaby,  why  do 
you  love  me?" 

"  Because  you  are  such  a  sublime  gaby !  Listen,  Jenny. 
You  see,  if  I  can  get  people  to  take  the  '  Globe '  and  the 
'  Mouvement,'  and  to  pay  their  insurances,  instead  of  earning 
a  miserable  eight  or  ten  thousand  francs  a  year  by  trundling 
around  like  a  man  in  a  show,  I  may  make  twenty  to  thirty 
thousand  francs  out  of  one  round." 

"Unlace  my  stays,  Gaudissart,  and  pull  straight — don't 
drag  me  askew." 

"  And  then,"  said  the  commercial  traveler,  as  he  admired 
the  girl's  satin  shoulders,  "I  shall  be  a  shareholder  in  the 
papers,  like  Finot,  a  friend  of  mine,  the  son  of  a  hatter,  who 
has  thirty  thousand  francs  a  year,  and  will  get  himself  made 
a  peer !  And  when  you  think  of  little  Popinot !  By  the 
way,  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Monsieur  Popinot  was  yesterday 
made  minister  of  commerce.  Why  should  not  I,  too,  be 
ambitious  ?  Ah,  ha  !  I  could  easily  catch  the  cant  of  the 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  355 

Tribune,  and  I  might  be  made  a  minister — something  like  a 
minister,  too  !  Just  listen — 

"  '  Gentlemen,'  "  and  he  took  his  stand  behind  an  armchair, 
"  '  the  press  is  not  a  mere  tool,  nor  a  mere  trade.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  politician,  the  press  is  an  institution. 
Now  we  are  absolutely  required  here  to  take  the  political  view 
of  things,  hence  '  '  — he  paused  for  breath — "  '  hence  we  are 
bound  to  inquire  whether  it  is  useful  or  mischievous,  whether 
it  should  be  encouraged  or  repressed,  whether  it  should  be 
taxed  or  free — serious  questions  all.  I  believe  I  shall  not  be 
wasting  the  precious  moments  of  this  Chamber  by  investigating 
this  article  and  showing  you  the  conditions  of  the  case.  We 
are  walking  on  to  a  precipice.  The  laws  indeed  are  not  so 
guarded  as  they  should  be ' 

"How  is  that?"  said  he,  looking  at  Jenny.  "Every 
orator  says  that  France  is  marching  toward  a  precipice ;  they 
either  say  that  or  they  talk  of  the  chariot  of  the  State  and 
political  tempest  and  clouds  on  the  horizon.  Don't  I  know 
every  shade  of  color !  I  know  the  dodges  of  every  trade. 
And  do  you  know  why  ?  I  was  born  with  a  caul  on.  My  old 
grandmother  kept  the  caul,  and  I  will  give  it  to  you.  So, 
you  see,  I  shall  soon  be  in  power  !  " 

"You?" 

"  Why  shouldn't  I  be  Baron  Gaudissart  and  Peer  of  France  ? 
Has  not  Monsieur  Popinot  been  twice  returned  deputy  for  the 
fourth  arrondissement  ?  And  he  dines  with  Louis-Philippe. 
Finot  is  to  be  a  councilor  of  State,  they  say.  Oh  !  if  only  they 
would  send  me  to  London  as  ambassador,  I  am  the  man  to  non- 
plus the  English,  I  can  tell  you.  Nobody  has  ever  caught  Gaud- 
issart napping — Gaudissart  the  Great.  No,  no  one  has  ever  got- 
ten the  better  of  me,  and  no  one  ever  shall  in  any  line,  politics 
or  impolitics,  here  or  anywhere.  But  for  the  present  I  must 
give  my  mind  to  insuring  property,  to  the  'Globe,'  to  the 
'Mouvement,'  to  the  'Children's'  paper,  and  to  the  'Article 
de  Paris.'" 


356  GAUDTSSART  THE    GREAT. 

"  You  will  be  caught  over  your  newspapers.  I  will  lay  a 
wager  that  you  will  not  get  as  far  as  Poitiers  without  being 
done." 

"  I  am  ready  to  bet,  my  jewel." 

"A  shawl!  " 

"  Done.  If  I  lose  the  shawl,  I  will  go  back  to  trade  and 
hats.  But,  get  the  better  of  Gaudissart?  Never!  never  !  " 

And  the  illustrious  commercial  traveler  struck  an  attitude  in 
front  of  Jenny,  looking  at  her  haughtily,  one  hand  in  his 
vest,  and  his  head  half-turned  in  a  Napoleonic  pose. 

"  How  absurd  you  are!  What  have  you  been  eating  this 
evening  !  " 

Gaudissart  was  a  man  of  eight-and-thirty,  of  middle  height, 
burly  and  fat,  as  a  man  is  who  is  accustomed  to  go  about  in 
mail-coaches ;  his  face  was  as  round  as  a  pumpkin,  florid,  and 
with  regular  features,  resembling  the  traditional  type  adopted 
by  sculptors  in  every  country  for  their  statues  of  Abundance, 
of  Law,  Force,  Commerce,  and  the  like.  His  prominent 
stomach  was  pear-shaped  and  his  legs  were  thin,  but  he  was 
wiry  and  active.  He  picked  up  Jenny,  who  was  half-undressed, 
and  carried  her  to  her  bed. 

"Hold  your  tongue,  free  woman"  said  he.  "Ah,  you 
don't  know  anything  about  the  free  woman  and  Saint-Simon- 
ism,  and  antagonism,  and  Fourierism,  and  criticism,  and  de- 
termined push — well  it  is — in  short,  it  is  ten  francs  on  every 
subscription,  Madame  Gaudissart." 

"On  my  honor,  you  are  going  crazy,  Gaudissart." 

"Always  more  and  more  crazy  about  you,"  said  he,  tossing 
his  hat  on  to  the  sofa. 

Next  day,  after  breakfasting  in  style  with  Jenny  Courand, 
Gaudissart  set  out  on  horseback  to  call  in  all  the  market  towns 
which  he  had  been  particularly  instructed  to  work  up  by  the 
various  companies  to  whose  success  he  was  devoting  his  genius. 
After  spending  forty-five  days  in  beating  the  country  lying 
between  Paris  and  Blois,  he  stayed  for  a  fortnight  in  this  little 


GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT.  357 

city,  devoting  the  time  to  writing  letters  and  visiting  the 
neighboring  towns.  The  day  before  leaving  for  Tours  he 
wrote  to  Mademoiselle  Jenny  Courand  the  following  letter,  of 
which  the  fullness  and  charm  cannot  be  matched  by  any  narra- 
tive, and  which  also  serves  to  prove  the  peculiar  legitimacy 
of  the  ties  that  bound  these  two  persons  together : 

Letter  from   Gaudissart  to  Jenny   Courand. 

"  MY  DEAR  JENNY  : — I  am  afraid  you  will  lose  your  bet. 
Like  Napoleon,  Gaudissart  has  his  star,  but  will  know  no 
Waterloo.  I  have  triumphed  everywhere  under  the  conditions 
set  forth.  The  insurance  business  is  doing  very  well.  Be- 
tween Paris  and  Blois  I  secured  near  on  two  millions;  but 
toward  the  middle  of  France  heads  are  remarkably  hard,  and 
millions  infinitely  scarcer.  The  Article  Paris  toddles  on 
nicely,  as  usual ;  it  is  a  ring  on  your  finger.  With  my  usual 
rattle,  I  can  always  come  round  the  storekeepers.  I  got  rid 
of  sixty-two  Ternaux  shawls  at  Orleans ;  but,  on  my  honor,  I 
don't  know  what  they  will  do  with  them  unless  they  put  them 
back  on  the  sheep. 

"As  to  the  newspaper  line,  the  deuce  is  in  it !  that  is  quite 
another  pair  of  shoes.  God  above  us  !  what  a  deal  of  piping 
those  good  people  take  before  they  have  learned  a  new  tune. 
I  have  gotten  no  more  than  sixty-two  'Mouvements'  so  far; 
and  that  in  my  whole  journey  is  less  than  the  Ternaux  shawls 
in  one  town.  These  rascally  Republicans  won't  subscribe 
at  all ;  you  talk  to  them,  and  they  talk ;  they  are  quite  of 
your  way  of  thinking,  and  you  are  soon  all  agreed  to  upset 
everything  that  exists.  Do  you  think  the  man  will  fork  out  ? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  And  if  he  has  three  square  inches  of  ground, 
enough  to  grow  a  dozen  cabbages,  or  wood  enough  to  cut  a 
toothpick,  your  man  will  talk  of  the  settlement  of  landed 
estate,  of  taxation,  and  crops,  and  compensation — a  pack  of 
nonsense,  while  I  waste  my  time  and  spittle  in  patriotism. 


358  GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT. 

Business  is  bad,  and  the  '  Mouvement '  generally  is  dull.  I 
am  writing  to  the  owners  to  say  so.  And  I  am  very  sorry  as 
a  matter  of  opinion. 

"As  to  the  '  Globe,'  that  is  another  story.  If  I  talk  of  the 
new  doctrines  to  men  who  seem  likely  to  have  a  leaning  to 
such  quirks,  you  might  think  it  was  a  proposal  to  burn  their 
house  down.  I  tell  them  that  it  is  the  coming  thing,  the  most 
advantageous  to  their  interests,  the  principle  of  work  by  which 
nothing  is  lost ;  that  men  have  oppressed  men  long  enough, 
that  woman  is  a  slave,  that  we  must  strive  to  secure  the  tri- 
umph of  the  great  Idea  of  thrift,  and  achieve  a  more  rational 
coordination  of  society — in  short,  all  the  rhodomontade  at 
my  command.  All  in  vain  !  As  soon  as  I  start  on  this  sub- 
ject, these  country  louts  shut  up  their  cupboards  as  if  I  had 
come  to  steal  something,  and  beg  me  to  be  off. 

"  What  fools  these  owls  are  !  The  '  Globe '  is  nowhere.  I 
told  them  so.  I  said,  '  You  are  too  advanced.  You  are  getting 
forward,  and  that  is  all  very  well ;  but  you  must  have  something 
to  show.  In  the  provinces  they  want  to  see  results. '  However, 
I  have  gotten  a  hundred  'Globes ; '  and,  seeing  the  density  of 
these  country  noodles,  it  is  really  a  miracle.  But  I  promise 
them  such  a  heap  of  fine  things,  that  be  hanged  if  I  know  how 
the  Globules,  or  Globists,  or  Globites,  or  Globians  are  ever 
going  to  give  them.  However,  as  they  assured  me  that  they 
would  arrange  the  world  far  better  than  it  is  arranged  at 
present,  I  lead  the  way  and  prophesy  good  things  at  ten  francs 
per  head. 

"  There  is  a  farmer  who  thought  it  must  have  to  do  with 
soils,  by  reason  of  the  name,  and  I  rammed  the  '  Globe  ' 
down  his  throat;  he  will  take  to  it,  I  feel  sure;  he  has  a 
prominent  forehead,  and  men  with  prominent  foreheads  are 
always  ideologists. 

"  But  as  to  the  children  !  give  me  the  children.  I  got 
two  thousand  children  between  Paris  and  Blois — a  nice  little 
turn  !  And  there  is  less  waste  of  words.  You  show  the  pic- 


GAUD1SSART  THE   GREAT.  S59 

ture  to  the  mother  on  the  sly,  so  that  the  child  wants  to  see ; 
then,  of  course,  the  child  sees;  and  he  tugs  at  mamma's 
skirts  till  he  gets  his  paper,  because  '  Daddy  has  his'n  paper.' 
Mamma's  gown  cost  twenty  francs,  and  she  does  not  want  it 
torn  by  the  brat ;  the  paper  costs  but  six  francs,  that  is 
cheaper ;  so  the  subscription  is  dragged  out.  It  is  capital, 
and  meets  a  real  want — something  between  the  sugar-plum 
and  the  picture-book,  the  two  eternal  cravings  of  childhood. 
And  they  can  read,  too,  these  frenzied  brats. 

"Here,  at  the  table  d'hote,  I  had  a  dispute  about  news- 
papers and  my  opinions.  I  was  sitting,  peacefully  eating,  by 
the  side  of  a  man  in  a  white  hat  who  was  reading  the  '  De- 
bats.'  Said  I  to  myself,  '  I  must  give  him  a  taste  of  my  elo- 
quence. Here  is  a  man  who  is  all  for  the  dynasty ;  I  must 
try  to  catch  him.  Such  a  triumph  would  be  a  splendid  fore- 
cast of  success  as  a  minister.'  So  I  set  to  work,  beginning  by 
praising  his  paper.  It  was  a  precious  long  job,  I  can  tell 
you.  From  one  thing  to  another  I  began  to  overrule  my 
man,  giving  him  four-horse  speeches,  arguments  in  F  sharp, 
and  all  the  precious  rhodomontade.  Everybody  was  listening, 
and  I  saw  a  man  with  '  July '  in  his  mustaches,  ready  to  bite 
for  the  '  Mouvement.'  But,  by  ill-luck,  I  don't  know  how  I 
let  slip  the  word  ganache  (old  woman).  Away  went  my 
dynastic  white  hat — and  a  bad  hat  too,  a  Lyons  hat,  half-silk 
and  half-cotton — with  the  bit  between  his  teeth  in  a  fury.  So 
I  put  on  my  grand  air — you  know  it — and  I  say  to  him, 
'  Heyday,  monsieur,  you  are  a  hot  pot  !  If  you  are  vexed, 

I  am  ready  to  answer  for  my  words.     I  fought  in  July ' 

'  Though   I   am    the   father   of  a  family,'   says   he,    '  I   am 

ready '     'You  are  the  father  of  a  family,  my  dear  sir,' 

say  I.  'You  have  children?'  'Yes,  monsieur.'  'Of 
eleven?'  'Thereabouts.'  'Well,  then,  monsieur,  "The 
Children's  Magazine  "  is  just  about  to  be  published — six 
francs  per  annum,  one  number  a  month,  two  columns,  contrib- 
utors of  the  highest  literary  rank,  gotten  up  in  the  best  style, 


360  GAUDISSART   THE   GREAT. 

good  paper,  illustrations  from  drawings  by  our  first  artists, 
genuine  India-paper  proofs,  and  colors  that  will  not  fade.' 
And  then  I  give  him  a  broadside.  The  father  is  overpowered ! 
The  squabble  ends  in  a  subscription. 

"  '  No  one  but  Gaudissart  can  play  that  game,'  cried  little 
tomtit  Lamard  to  that  long  noodle  Bulot  when  he  told  him 
the  story  at  the  cafe. 

"  To-morrow  I  am  off  to  Amboise.  I  shall  do  Amboise  in 
two  days  and  write  next  from  Tours,  where  I  am  going  to  try 
my  hand  on  the  deadliest  country  from  the  point  of  view  of 
intelligence  and  speculation.  But,  on  the  honor  of  Gaudis- 
sart, they  will  be  done,  they  shall  be  done  !  Done  brown  ! 
By-by,  little  one ;  love  me  long  and  always  be  true  to  me. 
Fidelity  through  thick  and  thin  is  one  of  the  characteristics 
of  the  free  woman.  Who  kisses  your  eyes  ? 

"Yours,  FELIX  for  ever." 

Five  days  later  Gaudissart  set  out  one  morning  from  the 
Faisan  hotel,  where  he  put  up  at  Tours,  and  went  to  Vouvray, 
a  rich  and  populous  district  where  the  public  mind  seemed  to 
him  to  be  open  to  conviction.  He  was  trotting  along  the 
river  quay  on  his  nag,  thinking  no  more  of  the  speeches  he 
was  about  to  make  than  an  actor  thinks  of  the  part  he  has 
played  a  hundred  times.  Gaudissart  the  Great  cantered  on, 
admiring  the  landscape,  and  thinking  of  nothing,  never 
dreaming  that  the  happy  valleys  of  Vouvray  were  to  witness 
the  overthrow  of  his  commercial  infallibility. 

It  will  here  be  necessary  to  give  the  reader  some  insight 
into  the  public  spirit  of  Touraine.  The  peculiar  wit  of  a  sly 
romancer,  full  of  banter  and  epigram,  which  stamps  every 
page  of  Rabelais'  work,  is  the  faithful  expression  of  the  Tou- 
rangeau  nature,  of  an  intellect  as  keen  and  polished  as  it  must 
inevitably  be  in  a  province  where  the  Kings  of  France  long 
held  their  court ;  an  ardent,  artistic,  poetical,  and  luxurious 
nature,  but  prompt  to  forget  its  first  impulse.  The  softness 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  361 

of  the  atmosphere,  the  beauty  of  the  climate,  a  certain  ease 
of  living  and  simplicity  of  manners,  soon  stifle  the  feeling 
for  art,  narrow  the  most  expansive  heart,  and  corrode  the 
most  tenacious  will. 

Transplant  the  native  of  Touraine,  and  his  qualities  de- 
velop and  lead  to  great  things,  as  has  been  proved  in  the  most 
dissimilar  ways  by  Rabelais  and  by  Semblancay  ;  by  Plantin 
the  printer  and  by  Descartes;  by  Boucicault,  the  Napoleon 
of  his  day;  by  Pinaigrier,  who  painted  the  greater  part  of  our 
cathedral  glass ;  by  Verville  and  Courier.  But,  left  at  home, 
the  countryman  of  Touraine,  so  remarkable  elsewhere,  re- 
mains like  the  Indian  on  his  rug,  like  the  Turk  on  his  divan. 
He  uses  his  wit  to  make  fun  of  his  neighbor,  to  amuse  him- 
self, and  to  live  happy  to  the  end  of  his  days.  Touraine  is 
the  true  Abbey  of  Thelema,  so  much  praised  in  Gargantua's 
book.  Consenting  nuns  may  be  found  there,  as  in  the  poet's 
dream,  and  the  good-cheer  sung  so  loudly  by  Rabelais  is 
supreme. 

As  to  his  indolence,  it  is  sublime,  and  well  characterized  in 
the  popular  witticism  :  "  Tourangeau,  will  you  have  some 
broth?"  "Yes."  "Then  bring  your  bowl."  "I  am  no 
longer  hungry." 

Is  it  to  the  glee  of  the  vine-dresser,  to  the  harmonious 
beauty  of  the  loveliest  scenery  in  France,  or  to  the  perennial 
peace  of  a  province  which  has  always  escaped  the  invading 
armies  of  the  foreigner,  that  the  soft  indifference  of  those 
mild  and  easy  habits  is  due  ?  To  this  question  there  is  no 
answer.  Go  yourself  to  that  Turkey  in  France,  and  there 
you  will  stay,  indolent,  idle,  and  happy.  Though  you  were 
as  ambitious  as  Napoleon  or  a  poet  like  Byron,  an  irresistible, 
indescribable  influence  would  compel  you  to  keep  your  poetry 
to  yourself  and  reduce  your  most  ambitious  schemes  to  day- 
dreams. 

Gaudissart  the  Great  was  fated  to  meet  in  Vouvray  one  of 
those  indigenous  wags  whose  mockery  is  offensive  only  by 


362  GAUD1SSART   THE    GREAT. 

its  absolute  perfection  of  fun,  and  with  whom  he  had  a  deadly 
battle.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  your  Tourangeau  likes  to  come 
into  his  father's  property.  Hence  the  doctrines  of  Saint- 
Simon  were  held  particularly  odious,  and  heartily  abused  in 
those  parts;  still,  only  as  things  are  hated  and  abused  in 
Touraine,  with  the  disdain  and  lofty  pleasantry  worthy  of  the 
land  of  good  stories  and  jokes  played  between  neighbors — a 
spirit  which  is  vanishing  day  by  day  before  what  Lord  Byron 
called  English  cant. 

After  putting  up  his  horse  at  the  Soleil  d'Or,  kept  by  one 
Mitouflet,  a  discharged  grenadier  of  the  Imperial  Guard,  who 
had  married  a  wealthy  mistress  of  vinelands,  and  to  whose 
care  he  solemnly  confided  his  steed,  Gaudissart,  for  his 
sins,  went  first  to  the  prime  wit  of  Vouvray,  the  life  and 
soul  of  the  district,  the  jester  whose  reputation  and  nature 
alike  made  it  incumbent  on  him  to  keep  his  neighbors' 
spirits  up.  This  rustic  Figaro,  a  retired  dyer,  was  the  happy 
possessor  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  francs  a  year,  of  a  pretty 
house  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  of  a  plump  little  wife,  and  of 
robust  health.  For  ten  years  past  he  had  had  nothing  to  do 
but  to  take  care  of  his  garden  and  his  wife,  to  get  his  daughter 
married,  to  play  his  game  of  an  evening,  to  keep  himself  in- 
formed of  all  the  scandal  that  came  within  his  jurisdiction,  to 
give  trouble  at  elections,  to  squabble  with  the  great  land- 
owners, and  arrange  big  dinners  ;  to  air  himself  on  the  quay, 
inquire  what  was  going  on  in  the  town,  and  bother  the  priest ; 
and,  for  dramatic  interest,  to  look  out  for  the  sale  of  a  plot  of 
ground  that  cut  into  the  ring  fence  of  his  vineyard.  In  short, 
he  lived  the  life  of  Touraine,  the  usual  life  of  a  small  country 
town. 

At  the  same  time,  he  was  the  most  important  of  the  minor 
notabilities  of  the  place  and  the  leader  of  the  small  proprie- 
tors— a  jealous  and  envious  class,  chewing  the  cud  of  slander 
and  calumny  against  the  aristocracy,  and  repeating  them  with 
relish,  grinding  everything  down  to  one  level,  hostile  to  every 


GAUD1SSART  THE   GREAT.  363 

form  of  superiority,  scorning  it,  indeed,  with  the  admirable 
coolness  of  ignorance. 

Monsieur  Vernier — so  this  little  great  man  of  the  place  was 
named — was  finishing  his  breakfast,  between  his  wife  and  his 
daughter,  when  Gaudissart  made  his  appearance  in  the  dining- 
room — one  of  the  most  cheerful  dining-rooms  for  miles  around, 
with  a  view  from  the  windows  over  the  Loire  and  the  Cher. 

"  Is  it  to  Monsieur  Vernier  himself  that  I  now  have  the 

honor ?"  said  the  traveler,  bending  his  vertebral  column 

with  so  much  grace  that  it  seemed  to  be  elastic. 

"  Yes,  monsieur,"  said  the  wily  dyer,  interrupting  him  with 
a  scrutinizing  glance,  by  which  he  at  once  took  the  measure 
of  the  man  he  had  to  do  with. 

"  I  have  come,  monsieur,"  Gaudissart  went  on,  "  to  request 
the  assistance  of  your  enlightenment  to  direct  me  in  this  dis- 
trict where,  as  I  learn  from  Mitouflet,  you  exert  the  greatest 
influence.  I  am  an  emissary,  monsieur,  to  this  department 
in  behalf  of  an  undertaking  of  the  highest  importance,  backed 
by  bankers  who  are  anxious " 

"Anxious  to  swindle  us!"  said  Vernier,  laughing,  long 
since  used  to  deal  with  the  commercial  traveler  and  to  follow 
his  game. 

"Just  so,"  replied  Gaudissart  the  Great  with  perfect  impu- 
dence. "But,  as  you  very  well  know,  sir,  since  you  are  so 
clear-sighted,  people  are  not  to  be  swindled  unless  they  think 
it  to  their  interest  to  allow  themselves  to  be  swindled.  I  beg 
you  will  not  take  me  for  one  of  the  common  ruck  of  commer- 
cial gentlemen  who  trust  to  cunning  or  importunity  to  win 
success.  I  am  no  longer  a  traveler ;  I  was  one,  monsieur,  and 
I  glory  in  it.  But  I  have  now  a  mission  of  supreme  import- 
ance, which  ought  to  make  every  man  of  superior  mind  regard 
me  as  devoted  to  the  enlightenment  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 
Be  kind  enough  to  hear  me,  monsieur,  and  you  will  find  that 
you  will  have  profited  greatly  by  the  half-hour's  conversation 
I  beg  you  to  grant  me.  The  great  Paris  bankers  have  not 


364  GAUDISSAKT  THE   GREAT. 

merely  lent  their  names  to  this  concern,  as  to  certain  dis- 
creditable speculations  such  as  I  call  mere  rat-traps.  No,  no, 
nothing  of  the  kind.  I  can  assure  you,  I  would  never  allow 
myself  to  engage  in  promoting  such  booby-traps.  No,  mon- 
sieur, the  soundest  and  most  respectable  houses  in  Paris  are 
concerned  in  the  undertaking,  both  as  shareholders  and  as 
guarantors " 

And  Gaudissart  unrolled  the  frippery  of  his  phrases,  while 
Monsieur  Vernier  listened  with  an  affectation  of  interest  that 
quite  deceived  the  orator.  But  at  the  word  guarantor,  Vernier 
had,  in  fact,  ceased  to  heed  this  drummer's  rhetoric ;  he  was 
bent  on  playing  him  some  sly  trick,  so  as  to  clear  off  this  kind 
of  Parisian  caterpillar,  once  for  all,  from  a  district  justly  re- 
garded as  barbarian  by  speculators,  who  can  get  no  footing 
there. 

At  the  head  of  a  delightful  valley,  known  as  the  Vallee 
coquette  (coquette's  valley),  from  its  curves  and  bends,  new  at 
every  step,  and  each  more  charming  than  the  last,  whether 
you  go  up  or  down  the  winding  slope,  there  dwelt,  in  a  little 
house  surrounded  by  a  vineyard,  a  more  than  half-crazy  crea- 
ture named  Margaritis.  This  man,  an  Italian  by  birth,  was 
married,  but  had  no  children,  and  his  wife  took  care  of  him 
with  a  degree  of  courage  that  was  universally  admired  ;  for 
Madame  Margaritis  certainly  ran  some  risk  in  living  with  a 
man  who,  among  other  manias,  insisted  on  always  having  two 
long  knives  about  him,  not  unfrequently  threatening  her  with 
them.  But  who  does  not  know  the  admirable  devotion  with 
which  country  people  care  for  afflicted  creatures,  perhaps  in 
consequence  of  the  discredit  that  attaches  to  a  middle-class 
wife  if  she  abandons  her  child  or  her  husband  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  public  asylum  ?  Again,  the  aversion  is  well 
known  which  country  folk  feel  for  paying  a  hundred  louis, 
or  perhaps  a  thousand  crowns,  the  price  charged  at  Charenton 
or  in  a  private  asylum.  If  any  one  spoke  to  Madame  Mar- 
garitis of  Dubuisson,  Esquirol,  Blanche,  or  other  mad-doctors, 


GAUD1SSART   THE   GREAT.  365 

she  preferred,  with  lofty  indignation,  to  keep  her  three  thou- 
sand francs  and  her  good  man. 

The  inexplicable  caprices  of  this  worthy's  insanity  being 
closely  connected  with  the  course  of  my  story,  it  is  needful 
to  mention  some  of  his  more  conspicuous  vagaries.  Margaritis 
would  always  go  out  as  soon  as  it  began  to  rain,  to  walk  bare- 
headed among  his  vines.  Indoors  he  was  perpetually  asking 
for  the  newspaper ;  just  to  satisfy  him,  his  wife  or  the  maid- 
servant would  give  him  an  old  "Journal  d'Indre-et-Loire," 
and  for  seven  years  he  had  never  discovered  that  it  was  al- 
ways the  same  copy.  A  doctor  might  perhaps  have  found 
it  interesting  to  note  the  connection  between  his  attacks  of 
asking  for  the  paper  and  the  variations  in  the  weather.  The 
poor  madman's  constant  occupation  was  to  study  the  state  of 
the  sky  and  its  effect  on  the  vines. 

When  his  wife  had  company,  which  was  almost  every  even- 
ing— for  the  neighbors,  in  pity  for  her  position,  came  in  to 
play  boston  with  her — Margaritis  sat  in  silence  in  a  corner, 
never  moving ;  but  when  ten  o'clock  struck  by  a  clock  in  a 
tall  wooden  case,  he  rose  at  the  last  stroke  with  the  mechanical 
precision  of  the  figures  moved  by  a  spring  in  a  German  toy, 
went  slowly  up  to  the  card-players,  looked  at  them  with  eyes 
strangely  like  the  automatic  gaze  of  the  Greeks  and  Turks  to 
be  seen  in  the  Boulevard  du  Temple  in  Paris,  and  said,  "  Go 
away  !  ' ' 

At  times,  however,  this  man  recovered  his  natural  wits 
and  could  then  advise  his  wife  very  shrewdly  as  to  the  sale  of 
her  wine ;  but  at  those  times  he  was  exceedingly  troublesome, 
stealing  dainties  out  of  the  cupboards  and  eating  them  in 
secret. 

Occasionally  when  the  customary  visitors  came  in  he  an- 
swered their  inquiries  civily,  but  he  more  often  replied  quite 
at  random.  To  a  lady  who  asked  him,  "  How  are  you  to- 
day, Monsieur  Margaritis?"  "I  have  shaved,"  he  would 
reply,  "  and  you?" 


366  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

"Are  you  better,  monsieur?"  another  would  say.  "Jeru- 
salem !  Jerusalem  !  "  was  the  answer.  But  he  usually  looked 
at  them  with  a  blank  face,  not  speaking  a  word,  and  then  his 
wife  would  say,  "The  goodman  cannot  hear  anything  to- 
day." Twice  or  thrice  in  the  course  of  five  years,  always 
about  the  time  of  the  equinox,  he  had  flown  into  a  rage  at 
this  remark,  had  drawn  a  knife,  and  shrieked,  "That  hussy 
disgraces  me  !  " 

Still,  he  drank,  ate,  and  walked  out  like  any  man  in  perfect 
health  ;  and  by  degrees  every  one  was  accustomed  to  pay  him 
no  more  respect  or  attention  than  if  he  had  been  a  clumsy 
piece  of  furniture. 

Of  all  his  eccentricities,  there  was  one  to  which  no  one  had 
ever  been  able  to  discover  a  clue ;  for  the  wise  heads  of  the 
district  had  in  the  course  of  time  accounted  for,  or  explained, 
most  of  the  poor  lunatic's  maddest  acts.  He  insisted  on  al- 
ways having  a  sack  of  flour  in  the  house,  and  on  keeping  two 
casks  of  wine  from  the  vintage,  never  allowing  any  one  to 
touch  either  the  flour  or  the  wine.  But,  when  the  month  of 
June  came  round,  he  began  to  be  anxious  to  sell  the  sack  and 
the  wine-barrels  with  all  the  fretfulness  of  a  madman.  Mad- 
ame Margaritis  generally  told  him  that  she  had  sold  the  two 
puncheons  at  an  exorbitant  price,  and  gave  him  the  money, 
which  he  then  hid  without  his  wife  or  his  servant  ever  having 
succeeded,  even  by  watching,  in  discovering  the  hiding-place. 

The  day  before  Gaudissart's  visit  to  Vouvray,  Madame 
Margaritis  had  had  more  difficulty  than  ever  in  managing  her 
husband,  who  had  an  attack  of  lucid  reason. 

"I  declare  I  do  not  know  how  I  shall  get  through  to- 
morrow," said  she  to  Madame  Vernier.  "Only  fancy,  my 
old  man  insisted  on  seeing  his  two  casks  of  wine.  And  he 
gave  me  no  peace  all  day  till  I  showed  him  two  full  puncheons. 
Our  neighbor,  Pierre  Champlain,  luckily  had  two  casks  he 
had  not  been  able  to  sell,  and  at  my  request  he  rolled  them 
into  our  cellar.  And  then  what  must  he  want,  after  seeing 


GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT.  367 

the  casks,  but  nothing  will  content  him  but  selling  them 
himself." 

Madame  Vernier  had  just  been  telling  her  husband  of  this 
difficult  state  of  things  when  Gaudissart  walked  in.  At  the 
commercial  traveler's  very  first  words  Vernier  determined  to 
let  him  loose  on  old  Margaritis. 

"Monsieur,"  replied  the  dyer,  when  Gaudissart  the  Great 
had  exhausted  his  first  broadside,  "  I  will  not  conceal  from 
you  that  your  undertaking  will  meet  with  great  obstacles 
in  this  district.  In  our  part  of  the  world  the  good  folk  go 
on,  bodily,  in  a  way  of  their  own  ;  it  is  a  country  where  no 
new  idea  can  ever  take  root.  We  live  as  our  fathers  did, 
amusing  ourselves  by  eating  four  meals  a  day,  occupying  our- 
selves by  looking  after  our  vineyards,  and  selling  our  wine 
at  a  good  price.  Our  notion  of  business  is,  very  honestly,  to 
sell  things  for  more  than  they  cost.  We  shall  go  on  in  that 
rut,  and  neither  God  nor  the  devil  can  get  us  out  of  it.  But 
I  will  give  you  some  good  advice,  and  good  advice  is  worth 
an  eye.  We  have  in  this  neighborhood  a  retired  banker,  in 
whose  judgment  I  myself  have  the  utmost  confidence,  and  if 
you  win  his  support  you  shall  have  mine.  If  your  proposals 
offer  any  substantial  prospects,  and  we  are  convinced  of  it, 
Monsieur  Margaritis'  vote  carries  mine  with  it,  and  there  are 
twenty  well-to-do  houses  in  Vouvray  where  purses  will  be 
opened  and  your  panacea  will  be  tried." 

As  she  heard  him  mention  the  madman,  Madame  Vernier 
looked  up  at  her  husband. 

"  By  the  way,  I  believe  my  wife  was  just  going  to  call  on 
Madame  Margaritis  with  a  neighbor  of  ours.  Wait  a  minute, 
and  the  ladies  will  show  you  the  way.  You  can  go  round 
and  pick  up  Madame  Fontanieu,"  said  the  old  dyer  with  a 
wink  at  his  wife. 

This  suggestion  that  she  should  take  with  her  the  merriest, 
the  most  voluble,  the  most  facetious  of  all  the  merry  wives  of 
Vouvray,  was  as  much  as  to  tell  Madame  Vernier  to  secure  a 


368  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT, 

witness  to  report  the  scene  which  would  certainly  take  place 
between  the  drummer  and  the  lunatic,  so  as  to  amuse  the 
country  with  it  for  a  month  to  come.  Monsieur  and  Madame 
Vernier  played  their  parts  so  well  that  Gaudissart  had  no  sus- 
picions and  rushed  headlong  into  the  snare.  He  politely 
offered  his  arm  to  Madame  Vernier  and  fancied  he  had  quite 
made  a  conquest  of  both  ladies  on  the  way,  being  dazzlingly 
witty,  and  pelting  them  with  waggery  and  puns  which  they 
did  not  understand. 

The  so-called  banker  lived  in  the  first  house  at  the  opening 
into  the  Vallee  coquette.  It  was  called  la  Fuye,  and  was  not 
particularly  remarkable.  On  the  first  floor  was  a  large  paneled 
sitting-room,  with  a  bedroom  on  each  side  for  the  master  and 
mistress.  The  entrance  was  through  a  hall,  where  they  dined, 
opening  into  the  kitchen.  This  first  floor,  quite  lacking  the 
external  elegance  for  which  even  the  humblest  dwellings  in 
Touraine  are  noted,  was  crowned  by  attics,  to  which  an  out- 
side stair  led  up,  built  against  one  of  the  gable  ends,  and 
covered  in  by  a  lean-to  roof.  A  small  garden,  full  of  mari- 
golds, seringa,  and  alders,  divided  the  house  from  the  vine- 
yard. Round  the  courtyard  were  the  buildings  for  the  wine- 
presses and  storage. 

Margaritis,  seated  in  a  yellow  Utrecht  velvet  chair  by  the 
window  in  the  drawing-room,  did  not  rise  as  the  ladies  came 
in  with  Gaudissart ;  he  was  thinking  of  the  sale  of  his  butts  of 
wine.  He  was  a  lean  man,  with  a  pear-shaped  head,  bald 
above  the  forehead,  and  furnished  with  a  few  hairs  at  the 
back.  His  deep-set  eyes,  shaded  by  thick,  black  brows, 
and  with  dark  rings  round  them,  his  nose  as  thin  as  the  blade 
of  a  knife,  his  high  cheek-bones  and  hollow  cheeks,  his  gener- 
ally oblong  outline — everything,  down  to  his  absurdly  long 
flat  chin,  contributed  to  give  a  strange  look  to  his  coun- 
tenance, suggesting  that  of  a  professor  of  rhetoric — or  of  a 
ragpicker. 

"Monsieur   Margaritis,"   said   Madame  Vernier,   "come, 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  369 

wake  up  !  Here  is  a  gentleman  sent  to  you  by  my  husband, 
and  you  are  to  hear  him  with  attention.  Put  aside  your 
mathematical  calculations  and  talk  to  him." 

At  this  speech  the  madman  rose,  looked  at  Gaudissart,  waved 
to  him  to  be  seated,  and  said — 

"Let  us  talk,  monsieur." 

The  three  women  went  into  Madame  Margaritis'  room, 
leaving  the  door  open  so  as  to  hear  all  that  went  on,  and  in- 
tervene in  case  of  need.  Hardly  were  they  seated  when  Mon- 
sieur Vernier  came  in  quietly  from  the  vineyard,  and  made 
them  let  him  in  through  the  window  without  a  sound. 

"You  were  in  business,  monsieur?"  Gaudissart  fluently 
began. 

"  Public  business,"  replied  Margaritis,  interrupting  him, 
"I  pacified  Calabria  when  Murat  was  King." 

"  Heyday,  he  has  been  in  Calabria  now  !  "  said  Vernier  in 
a  whisper. 

"Oh,  indeed!"  said  Gaudissart.  "Then,  monsieur,  we 
cannot  fail  to  come  to  an  understanding." 

"  I  am  listening,"  replied  Margaritis,  settling  himself  in 
the  attitude  of  a  man  sitting  for  his  portrait. 

"  Monsieur,"  said  Gaudissart,  fidgeting  with  his  watch-key, 
which  he  twisted  round  and  round  without  thinking  of  what 
he  was  doing,  with  a  regular  rotatory  twirl  which  engaged  the 
madman's  attention  and,  perhaps,  helped  to  keep  him  quiet ; 
"  Monsieur,  if  you  were  not  a  man  of  superior  intelligence  " — 
Margaritis  bowed — "I  should  restrict  myself  to  setting  forth 
the  material  advantages  of  this  concern  ;  but  its  psychological 
value  is  worthy  of  your  attention.  Mark  me  !  Of  all  forms 
of  social  wealth,  time  is  the  most  precious ;  to  save  time  is  to 
grow  rich,  is  it  not  ?  Now,  is  there  anything  which  takes  up 
more  time  in  our  lives  than  anxiety  as  to  what  I  may  call 
boiling  the  pot — a  homely  metaphor,  but  clearly  stating  the 
question  ?  Or  is  there  anything  which  consumes  more  time 
than  the  lack  of  a  guarantee  to  offer  as  security  to  those  of 
24 


370  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

whom  you  ask  money  when,  though  impecunious  for  a  time, 
you  yet  are  rich  in  prospects  ?  ' ' 

"  Money — you  have  come  to  the  point." 

"Well,  then,  monsieur,  I  am  the  emissary  to  the  depart- 
ments of  a  company  of  bankers  and  capitalists  who  have 
perceived  what  enormous  loss  of  time,  and  consequently  of 
productive  intelligence  and  activity,  is  thus  entailed  on  men 
with  the  future  before  them.  Now,  the  idea  has  occurred  to 
us  that,  to  such  men,  we  may  capitalize  the  future,  we  may 
discount  their  talents,  by  discounting  what  ?  why,  their  time, 
and  securing  its  value  to  their  heirs.  This  is  not  merely  to 
economize  time ;  it  is  to  price  it,  to  value  it,  to  represent  in  a 
pecuniary  form  the  products  you  may  expect  to  obtain  in  a 
certain  unknown  time  by  representing  the  moral  qualities  with 
which  you  are  gifted,  and  which  are,  monsieur,  a  living  force, 
like  a  waterfall,  or  a  steam-engine  of  three,  ten,  twenty,  fifty 
horse-power.  This  is  progress,  a  great  movement  toward  a 
better  order  of  things,  a  movement  due  to  the  energy  of  our 
age — an  essentially  progressive  age,  as  I  can  prove  to  you  when 
we  come  to  the  conception  of  a  more  logical  coordination  of 
social  interests. 

"  I  will  explain  myself  by  tangible  instances.  I  quit  the 
purely  abstract  argument  which  we,  in  our  line,  call  the  mathe- 
matics of  ideas.  Supposing  that  instead  of  being  a  man  of 
property,  living  on  your  dividends,  you  are  a  painter,  a  musi- 
cian, a  poet " 

"I  am  a  painter,"  the  other  put  in  by  way  of  parenthesis. 

"Very  good,  so  be  it,  since  you  take  my  metaphor;  you 
are  a  painter,  you  have  a  great  future  before  you.  But  I  am 
going  further " 

At  those  words  the  lunatic  studied  Gaudissart  uneasily  to 
see  if  he  meant  to  go  away,  but  was  reassured  on  seeing  him 
remain  seated. 

"You  are  nothing  at  all,"  Gaudissart  went  on,  "but  you 
feel  yourself  •  ••-••" 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  371 

"I  feel  myself,"  said  Margaritis. 

"  You  say  to  yourself,  'I  shall  be  a  minister; '  very  good. 
You,  the  painter,  you,  the  artist,  the  man  of  letters,  the  future 
minister,  you  calculate  your  prospects,  you  value  them  at  so 
much — you  estimate  them,  let  us  say — at  a  hundred  thousand 
crowns " 

"And  you  have  brought  me  a  hundred  thousand  crowns?" 
said  the  lunatic. 

"Yes,  monsieur,  you  will  see.  Either  your  heirs  will  get 
them  without  fail,  in  the  event  of  your  death,  since  the  com- 
pany pledges  itself  to  pay,  or,  if  you  live,  you  get  them  by 
your  works  of  art  or  your  fortunate  speculations.  Nay,  if 
you  have  made  a  mistake,  you  can  begin  all  over  again.  But, 
when  once  you  have  fixed  the  value,  as  I  have  had  the  honor 
of  explaining  to  you,  of  your  intellectual  capital — for  it  is 
intellectual  capital,  bear  that  clearly  in  mind,  monsieur." 

"I  understand,"  said  the  madman. 

"You  sign  a  policy  of  insurance  with  this  company,  which 
credits  you  with  the  value  of  a  hundred  thousand  francs — you, 
the  painter " 

"I  am  a  painter,"  said  Margaritis. 

"  You  the  musician,  the  minister — and  promises  to  pay  that 
sum  to  your  family,  your  heirs,  if,  in  consequence  of  your 
demise,  the  hopes  of  the  income  to  be  derived  from  your  in- 
tellectual capital  should  be  lost.  The  payment  of  the  premium 
is  thus  all  that  is  needed  to  consolidate  your " 

"Your  cash-box,"  said  the  madman,  interrupting  him. 

"Well,  of  course,  monsieur;  I  see  that  you  understand 
business." 

"  Yes,"  said  Margaritis,  "  I  was  the  founder  of  the  Banque 
Territoriale,  Rue  des  Foss6s-Montmartre  in  Paris,  in  1798." 

"  For,"  Gaudissart  went  on,  "in  order  to  repay  the  intel- 
lectual capital  with  which  each  of  us  credits  himself,  must  not 
all  who  insure  pay  a  certain  premium — three  per  cent.,  an- 
nually three  per  cent.  ?  And  thus,  by  paying  a  very  small 


372  GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT. 

sum,  a  mere  nothing,  you  are  protecting  your  family  against 
the  disastrous  effects  of  your  death." 

"But  I  am  alive,"  objected  the  lunatic. 

"Ah  yes,  and  if  you  live  to  be  old — that  is  the  objection 
commonly  raised,  the  objection  of  the  vulgar,  and  you  must 
see  that  if  we  had  not  anticipated  and  annihilated  it,  we 
should  be  unworthy  to  become — what?  What  are  we,  in 
fact  ?  The  book-keepers  of  the  great  Bank  of  Intellect. 

"Monsieur,  I  do  not  say  this  to  you;  but  wherever  I  go, 
I  meet  with  men  who  pretend  to  teach  something  new,  to 
bring  forward  some  fresh  argument  against  those  who  have 
grown  pale  with  studying  the  business — on  my  word  of  honor, 
it  is  contemptible  !  However,  the  world  is  made  so,  and  I 
have  no  hope  of  reforming  it.  Your  objection,  monsieur,  is 
absurd " 

"Qutsaco?  (What?)"  said  Margaritis. 

"For  this  reason.  If  you  should  live,  and  if  you  have 
the  money  credited  to  you  in  your  policy  of  insurance  against 
the  chances  of  death — you  follow  me ' ' 

"I  follow." 

"Well,  then,  it  is  because  you  have  succeeded  in  your 
undertakings !  And  you  will  have  succeeded  solely  in 
consequence  of  that  policy  of  insurance ;  for,  by  ridding 
yourself  of  all  the  anxieties  which  are  involved  in  having  a 
wife  at  your  heels,  and  children  whom  your  death  may  re- 
duce to  beggary,  you  simply  double  your  chances  of  success. 
If  you  are  at  the  top  of  the  tree,  you  have  grasped  the  intel- 
lectual capital  compared  with  which  the  insurance  money  is  a 
trifle,  a  mere  trifle." 

"An  admirable  idea  !  " 

"Is  it  not,  monsieur?     I  call  this  beneficent  institution 
the  Mutual  Insurance  against  beggary  ! — or,  if  you  prefer  it, . 
the  Office  for  discounting  Talent.     For  talent,  sir,  talent  is  a 
bill  of  exchange,  bestowed  by  nature  on  a  man  of  genius, 
and  which  is  often  at  long  date — ha,  hah  !  " 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  373 

"Very  handsome  usury,"  cried  Margaritis. 

"  The  deuce  !  He  is  sharp  enough,  this  old  boy  !  I  have 
made  a  mistake ;  I  must  attack  this  man  on  higher  grounds 
with  palaver  Ai,"  thought  Gaudissart.  "Not  at  all,"  mon- 
sieur,"  said  he  aloud.  "  To  you  who " 

"  Will  you  take  a  glass  of  wine?  "  asked  Margaritis. 

"With  pleasure,"  said  Gaudissart. 

"  Wife !  give  us  a  bottle  of  the  wine  of  which  two  casks 
are  left.  You  are  here  in  the  headquarters  of  Vouvray," 
said  the  master,  pointing  to  his  vines.  "  The  clos  (vineyard) 
Margaritis. ' ' 

The  maid  brought  in  glasses  and  a  bottle  of  the  wine  of 
1819.  The  worthy  lunatic  filled  a  glass  with  scrupulous 
care  and  solemnly  presented  it  to  Gaudissart,  who  drank  it. 

"But  you  are  playing  me  some  trick,  monsieur,"  said 
the  commercial  traveler.  "This  is  Madeira,  genuine  Ma- 
deira! " 

"I  should  think  it  is!"  replied  the  lunatic.  "The  only 
fault  of  the  Vouvray  wine,  monsieur,  is  that  it  cannot  be  used 
as  an  ordinaire,  as  a  table  wine.  It  is  too  generous,  too 
strong ;  and  it  is  sold  in  Paris  as  Madeira  after  being  doc- 
tored with  brandy.  Our  wine  is  so  rich  that  many  of  the 
Paris  merchants,  when  the  French  crop  is  sufficient  for  Hol- 
land and  Belgium,  buy  our  wine  to  mix  with  the  wine  grown 
about  Paris,  and  so  manufacture  a  Bordeaux  wine.  But  what 
you  are  drinking  at  this  moment,  my  dear  and  very  amiable 
sir,  is  fit  for  a  king ;  it  is  the  head  of  Vouvray.  I  have  two 
casks,  only  two  casks  of  it.  Persons  who  appreciate  the  finest 
wines,  high-class  wines,  and  like  to  put  a  wine  on  their  table 
which  has  a  character  not  to  be  met  with  in  the  regular  trade, 
apply  direct  to  us.  Now,  monsieur,  do  you  happen  to  know 
any  one " 

"  Let  us  get  back  to  our  business,"  said  Gaudissart. 

"We  are  there,  monsieur,"  replied  the  madman.  "My 
wine  is  heady,  and  you  are  talking  of  capital ;  the  etymology 


374  GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT. 

of  capital  is  caput — head.     Heh  ?    The  head  of  Vouvray— • 
the  connection  is  obvious." 

"As  I  was  saying,"  persisted  Gaudissart,  "  either  you  have 
realized  your  intellectual  capital " 

"  I  have  realized,  monsieur.  Will  you  take  my  two  punch- 
eons ?  I  will  give  you  favorable  terms." 

"No,"  said  Gaudissart  the  Great,  "I  allude  to  the  insur- 
ance of  intellectual  capital  and  policies  on  life.  I  will  resume 
the  thread  of  my  argument." 

The  madman  grew  calmer,  sat  down,  and  looked  at  Gau- 
dissart. 

"  I  was  saying,  monsieur,  that  if  you  should  die,  the  capital 
is  paid  over  to  your  family  without  difficulty." 

"Without  difficulty." 

"Yes,  excepting  in  the  case  of  suicide " 

"  A  question  for  the  law." 

"  No,  sir.  As  you  know,  suicide  is  an  act  that  is  always 
easily  proved." 

"In  France,"  said  Margaritis.     "But " 

"  But  abroad,"  said  Gaudissart.  "  Well,  monsieur,  to  con- 
clude that  part  of  the  question,  I  may  say  at  once  that  death 
abroad  or  on  the  field  of  battle  is  not  included " 

"What  do  you  insure,  then?  Nothing  whatever,"  cried 
the  other.  "  Now,  my  bank  was  based  on " 

"Nothing  whatever,  sir?"  cried  Gaudissart,  interrupting 
him.  "  Nothing  whatever  ?  How  about  illness,  grief,  poverty, 
and  the  passions  ?  But  we  need  not  discuss  exceptional  cases." 

"  No,  we  will  not  discuss  them,"  said  the  madman. 

"  What,  then,  is  the  upshot  of  this  transaction  ?  "  exclaimed 
Gaudissart.  "To  you,  as  a  banker,  I  will  simply  state  the 
figures.  You  have  a  man,  a  man  with  a  future,  well  dressed, 
living  on  his  art — he  wants  money,  he  asks  for  it — a  blank. 
Civilization  at  large  will  refuse  to  advance  money  to  this 
man,  who,  in  thought,  dominates  over  civilization,  who  will 
some  day  dominate  over  it  by  his  brush,  his  chisel,  by  words, 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  375 

or  ideas,  or  a  system.  Civilization  is  merciless.  She  has  no 
bread  for  the  great  men  who  provide  her  with  luxuries ;  she 
feeds  them  on  abuse  and  mockery,  the  gilded  slut !  The  ex- 
pression is  a  strong  one,  but  I  will  not  retract  it.  Well,  your 
misprized  great  man  comes  to  us;  we  recognize  his  greatness, 
we  bow  to  him  respectfully,  we  listen  to  him,  and  he  says 
to  us — 

"  '  Gentlemen  of  the  insurance  company,  my  life  is  worth 
so  much ;  I  will  pay  you  so  much  per  cent,  on  my  works.' 
Well,  what  do  we  do  ?  At  once,  without  grudging,  we  admit 
him  to  the  splendid  banquet  of  civilization  as  an  important 
guest " 

"Then  you  must  have  wine,"  said  the  madman. 

"  As  an  important  guest.  He  signs  his  policy,  he  takes  our 
contemptible  paper  rags — mere  miserable  rags,  which,  rags  as 
they  are,  have  more  power  than  his  genius  had.  For,  in  fact, 
if  he  wants  money,  everybody  on  seeing  that  sheet  of  paper  is 
ready  to  lend  to  him.  On  the  Bourse,  at  the  bankers',  any- 
where, even  at  the  money-lenders',  he  can  get  money — because 
he  can  offer  security.  Well,  sir,  was  not  this  a  gulf  that 
needed  filling  in  the  social  system  ? 

"But,  sir,  this  is  but  a  part  of  the  business  undertaken  by 
the  life  insurance  company.  We  also  insure  debtors  on  a 
different  scale  of  premiums.  We  offer  annuities  on  terms 
graduated  by  age,  on  an  infinitely  more  favorable  calculation 
than  has  yet  been  allowed  in  tontines  based  on  tables  of 
mortality  now  known  to  be  inaccurate.  Our  society,  opera- 
ting on  the  mass,  our  annuitants  need  have  no  fear  of  the 
reflections  that  sadden  their  latter  years,  in  themselves  sad 
enough  ;  such  thoughts  as  must  necessarily  invade  them  when 
their  money  is  in  private  hands.  So,  you  see,  monsieur,  we 
have  taken  the  measure  of  life  under  every  aspect " 

"Sucked  it  at  every  pore,"  said  Margaritis.  "But  take  a 
glass  of  wine ;  you  have  certainly  earned  it.  You  must  lay 
some  velvet  on  your  stomach  if  you  want  to  keep  your  jaw  in 


376  GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT. 

working  order.  And  the  wine  of  Vouvray,  monsieur,  is,  when 
old  enough,  pure  velvet." 

"And  what  do  you  think  of  it  all?"  said  Gaudissart, 
emptying  his  glass. 

"  It  is  all  very  fine,  very  new,  very  advantageous ;  but  I 
think  better  of  the  system  of  loans  on  land  that  was  in  use  in 
my  bank  in  the  Rue  des  Fosses-Montmartre. " 

"There  you  are  right,  monsieur,"  said  Gaudissart,  "that 
has  been  worked  and  worked  out,  done  and  done  again.  We 
now  have  the  Mortgage  Society  which  lends  on  real  estate, 
and  works  that  system  on  a  large  scale.  But  is  not  that  a  mere 
trifle  in  comparison  with  our  idea  of  consolidating  possibil- 
ities. Consolidating  hopes,  coagulating — financially — each 
man's  desires  for  wealth,  and  securing  their  realization.  It 
remained  for  our  age,  sir,  an  age  of  transition — of  transition 
and  progress  combined  !  " 

"Ay,  of  progress,"  said  the  lunatic.  "I  like  progress, 
especially  such  as  brings  good  times  for  the  wine-trade ' ' 

"The  'Times— le  Temps' !"  exclaimed  Gaudissart, 

not  heeding  the  madman's  meaning.  "A  poor  paper,  sir; 
if  you  take  it  in,  I  pity  you." 

" The  newspaper? "  cried  Margaritis.  " To  be  sure,  I  am 
devoted  to  the  newspaper.  Wife,  wife !  where  is  the  news- 
paper?" he  went  on,  turning  toward  the  door. 

"Very  good,  monsieur;  if  you  take  an  interest  in  the 
papers,  we  shall  certainly  agree." 

"  Yes,  yes ;  but  before  you  hear  the  paper,  confess  that  this 
wine  is " 

"Delicious,"  said  Gaudissart. 

"Come  on,  then,  we  will  finish  the  bottle  between  us." 
The  madman  a  quarter  filled  his  own  glass  and  poured  out  a 
bumper  for  Gaudissart. 

"  As  I  say,  sir,  I  have  two  casks  of  that  very  wine.  If  you 
think  it  good,  and  are  disposed  to  deal " 

"The  fathers  of  the  Saint-Simonian  doctrine  have,  in  fact, 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  377 

commissioned  me  to  forward  them  such  products  as But 

let  me  tell  you  of  their  splendid  newspaper.  You,  who  under- 
stand the  insurance  business,  and  are  ready  to  help  me  to  ex- 
tend it  in  this  district " 

"Certainly,"  said  Margaritis,  "  if- 


"  Of  course,  if  I  take  your  wine.  And  your  wine  is  very 
good,  monsieur;  it  goes  to  the  spot." 

"  Champagne  is  made  of  it.  There  is  a  gentleman  here, 
from  Paris,  who  has  come  to  make  champagne  at  Tours." 

"I  quite  believe  it.  The  'Globe,'  which  you  must  have 
heard  mentioned " 

"  I  know  it  well,"  said  Margaritis. 

"  I  was  sure  of  it,"  said  Gaudissart.  "  Monsieur,  you  have 
a  powerful  head — a  bump  which  is  known  as  the  equine 
head.  There  is  something  of  the  horse  in  the  head  of  every 
great  man.  Now  a  man  can  be  a  genius  and  live  unknown. 
It  is  a  trick  that  has  happened  often  enough  to  men  who,  in 
spite  of  their  talents,  live  in  obscurity,  and  which  nearly 
befell  the  great  Saint-Simon  and  Monsieur  Vico,  a  man  of 
mark  who  is  making  his  way.  He  is  coming  on  well  is  Vico, 
and  I  am  glad.  Here  we  enter  on  the  new  theory  and  for- 
mula of  the  human  race.  Attention,  monsieur " 

"Attention  !  "  echoed  Margaritis. 

"The  oppression  of  man  by  man  ought  to  have  ended, 
monsieur,  on  the  day  when  Christ — I  do  not  say  Jesus  Christ, 
I  say  Christ — came  to  proclaim  the  equality  of  men  before 
God.  But  has  not  this  equality  been  hitherto  the  most  illu- 
sory chimera?  Now,  Saint-Simon  supplements  Christ.  Christ 
has  served  His  time " 

"Then,  is  He  released?"  asked  Margaritis. 

"  He  has  served  His  time  from  the  point  of  view  of  Liber- 
alism. There  is  something  stronger  to  guide  us  now — the  new 
creed,  free  and  individual  creativeness,  social  coordination  by 
which  each  one  shall  receive  his  social  reward  equitably,  in 
accordance  with  his  work,  and  no  longer  be  the  hireling  of 


378  GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT. 

individuals  who,  incapable  themselves,  make  all  labor  for 
the  benefit  of  one  alone.  Hence  the  doctrine " 

"And  what  becomes  of  the  servants?"  asked  Margaritis. 

"  They  remain  servants,  monsieur,  if  they  are  only  capable 
of  being  servants." 

"  Then  of  what  use  is  the  doctrine  ?  " 

"  Oh,  to  judge  of  that,  monsieur,  you  must  take  your  stand 
on  the  highest  point  of  view  whence  you  can  clearly  command 
a  general  prospect  of  humanity.  This  brings  us  to  Ballanche  ! 
Do  you  know  Monsieur  Ballanche?" 

"  It  is  my  principal  business,"  said  the  madman,  who  mis- 
understood the  name  for  la  planche  (boards  or  staves). 

"Very  good,"  said  Gaudissart.  "  Then,  sir,  if  the  palin- 
genesis and  successive  developments  of  the  spiritualized 
'  Globe '  touch  you,  delight  you,  appeal  to  you — then,  my 
dear  sir,  the  newspaper  called  the  'Globe,'  a  fine  name,  ac- 
curately expressing  its  mission — the  '  Globe '  is  the  cicerone 
who  will  explain  to  you  every  morning  the  fresh  conditions 
under  which,  in  quite  a  short  time,  the  world  will  undergo  a 
political  and  moral  change." 

"What  is  that?  "  asked  Margaritis. 

"I  will  explain  the  argument  by  a  simile,"  said  Gaudissart. 
"  If,  as  children,  our  nurses  took  us  to  Seraphin,  do  not  we 
older  men  need  a  presentment  of  the  future  ?  These  gentle- 
men  " 

"  Do  they  drink  wine?" 

"Yes,  monsieur.  Their  house  is  established,  I  may  say, 
on  an  admirable  footing — a  prophetic  footing ;  handsome  re- 
ceptions, all  the  bigwigs,  splendid  parties." 

"To  be  sure,"  said  the  madman,  "the  laborers  who  pull 
down  must  be  fed  as  well  as  those  who  build." 

"All  the  more  so,  monsieur,  when  they  pull  down  with  one 
hand  and  build  up  with  the  other,  as  the  apostles  of  the 
'Globe'  do." 

"  Then  they  must  have  wine,  the  wine  of  Vouvray ;  the  two 


GAUDISSART  THE   GREAT,  379 

casks  I  have  left— three  hundred  bottles  for  a  hundred  francs 
— a  mere  song." 

"  How  much  a  bottle  does  that  come  to?  "  said  Gaudissart. 
"Let  me  see  ;  there  is  the  carriage,  and  the  town  dues — not 
seven  sous — a  very  good  bargain."  ("I  have  caught  my 
man,"  thought  Gaudissart.  "  You  want  to  sell  me  the  wine, 
which  I  want,  and  I  can  get  the  whip  hand  of  you.")  "They 
pay  more  for  other  wine,"  he  went  on.  "  Well,  monsieur, 
men  who  haggle  are  sure  to  agree.  Speak  honestly ;  you  have 
considerable  influence  in  the  district  ?  " 

"  I  believe  so,"  said  the  madman.  "  The  head  of  Vouvray, 
you  see." 

"  Well,  and  you  perfectly  understand  the  working  of  the 
intellectual  capital  insurance?" 

"Perfectly." 

"  You  have  realized  the  vast  proportions  of  the  'Globe? '  " 

"Twice — on  foot." 

Gaudissart  did  not  heed  him;  he  was  entangled  in  the 
maze  of  his  own  thoughts,  and  listening  to  his  own  words, 
assured  of  success. 

"  Well,  seeing  the  position  you  hold,  I  can  understand  that 
at  your  age  you  have  nothing  to  insure.  But,  monsieur,  you 
can  persuade  those  persons  in  this  district  to  insure  who, 
either  by  their  personal  merits  or  by  the  precarious  position 
of  their  families,  may  be  anxious  to  provide  for  the  future. 
And  so,  if  you  will  subscribe  to  the  '  Globe,'  and  if  you  will 
give  me  the  support  of  your  authority  in  this  district  to  invite 
the  investment  of  capital  in  annuities — for  annuities  are  pop- 
ular in  the  provinces — well,  we  may  come  to  an  agreement  as 
to  the  purchase  of  the  two  casks  of  wine.  Will  you  take  in 
the 'Globe?'" 

"I  live  on  the  Globe." 

"  Will  you  support  me  with  the  influential  residents  in  the 
district?" 

"I  support " 


380  GAUD1SSART  THE   GREAT. 

"And " 


"And?- 


"And  I But  you  will  pay  your  subscription  to  the 

'Globe?'" 

" The  ' Globe ' — a  good  paper — an  annuity?  " 

"An  annuity,  monsieur?  Well,  yes,  you  are  right;  for  it 
is  full  of  life,  of  vitality,  and  learning ;  choke  full  of  learning ; 
a  handsome  paper,  well  printed,  a  good  color,  thick  paper. 
Oh,  it  is  none  of  your  flimsy  shoddy,  mere  waste-paper  that 
tears  if  you  look  at  it.  And  it  goes  deep,  gives  you  reasoning 
that  you  may  think  over  at  leisure,  and  pleasant  occupation 
here  in  the  depths  of  the  country." 

"That  is  the  thing  for  me,"  said  the  madman. 

"It  costs  a  mere  trifle — eighty  francs  a  year." 

"That  is  not  the  thing  for  me,"  said  Margaritis. 

"Monsieur,"  said  Gaudissart,  "  of  course  you  have  little 
children?" 

"Some,"  said  Margaritis,  who  misunderstood  have  for  love. 

"Well,  then,  the  'Journal  des  Enfants/  seven  francs  a 
year " 

"  Buy  my  two  casks  of  wine,"  said  Margaritis,  "  and  I  will 
subscribe  to  your  children's  paper  ;  that  is  the  thing  for  me  ; 
a  fine  idea.  Intellectual  tyranny — a  child — heh  ?  Does  not 
man  tyrannize  over  man  ? ' ' 

"Right  you  are,"  said  Gaudissart. 

"Right  lam." 

"  And  you  consent  to  steer  me  round  the  district  ?  " 

"Round  the  district." 

"  I  have  your  approbation  ?  " 

"You  have." 

"  Well,  then,  sir,  I  will  take  your  two  casks  of  wine  at  a 
hundred  francs " 

"  No,  no,  a  hundred  and  ten." 

"  Monsieur,  a  hundred  and  ten,  I  will  say  a  hundred  and 
ten,  but  it  is  a  hundred  and  ten  to  the  gentlemen  of  the  paper 


GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT.  381 

and  one  hundred  to  me.  If  I  find  you  a  buyer,  you  owe  me 
a  commission." 

"A  hundred  and  twenty  to  them.  No  commission  to  the 
commissioners. ' ' 

"  Very  neat.     And  not  only  witty,  but  spirited." 

"  No,  spirituous." 

"Better  and  better — like  Nicolet." 

"That  is  my  way,"  said  the  lunatic.  "  Come  and  look  at 
my  vineyards  ?  " 

"With  pleasure,"  said  Gaudissart.  "That  wine  goes 
strangely  to  the  head." 

And  Gaudissart  the  Great  went  out  with  Monsieur  Mar- 
garitis,  who  led  him  from  terrace  to  terrace,  from  vine  to  vine. 

The  three  ladies  and  Monsieur  Vernier  could  laugh  now  at 
their  ease,  as  they  saw  the  two  men  from  the  window  gesticu- 
lating, haranguing,  standing  still,  and  going  on  again,  talking 
vehemently. 

"  Why  did  your  good  man  take  him  out  of  hearing  ?  "  said 
Vernier. 

At  last  Margaritis  came  in  again  with  the  commercial  trav- 
eler ;  they  were  both  walking  at  a  great  pace  as  if  in  a  hurry 
to  conclude  the  business. 

"And  the  countryman,  I  bet,  has  been  too  many  for  the 
Parisian,"  said  Vernier. 

In  point  of  fact,  Gaudissart  the  Great,  sitting  at  one  end 
of  the  card-table,  to  the  great  delight  of  Margaritis,  wrote  an 
order  for  the  delivery  of  two  casks  of  wine.  Then,  after 
reading  through  the  contract,  Margaritis  paid  him  down  seven 
francs  as  a  subscription  to  the  children's  paper. 

"Till  to-morrow,  then,  monsieur,"  said  Gaudissart  the 
Great,  twisting  his  watch-key ;  "  I  shall  have  the  honor  of 
calling  for  you  to-morrow.  You  can  send  the  wine  to  Paris 
direct  to  the  address  I  have  given  you,  and  forward  it  as  soon 
as  you  receive  the  money." 

Gaudissart  was  from  Normandy;  there  were  two  sides  to 


382  GAUDISSART    THE    GREAT. 

every  bargain  he  made,  and  he  required  an  agreement  from 
Monsieur  Margaritis,  who  with  a  madman's  glee  in  gratifying 
his  favorite  whim,  signed,  after  reading,  a  contract  to  deliver 
two  casks  of  wine  of  "  Clos  Margaritis." 

So  Gaudissart  went  off  in  high  spirits,  humming  Le  roi  des 
mers,  prends  plus  bas,  to  the  Golden  Sun  inn,  where  he  natu- 
rally had  a  chat  with  the  host  while  waiting  for  dinner. 
Mitouflet  was  an  old  soldier,  simple  but  cunning,  as  peasants 
are,  but  never  laughing  at  a  joke,  as  being  a  man  who  is  ac- 
customed to  the  roar  of  cannon,  and  to  passing  a  jest  in  the 
ranks. 

"You  have  some  very  tough  customers  hereabouts,"  said 
Gaudissart,  leaning  against  the  door-post  and  lighting  his 
cigar  at  Mitouflet' s  pipe. 

"How  is  that?  "  asked  Mitouflet. 

"  Well,  men  who  ride  roughshod  over  political  and  finan- 
cial theories." 

"  Whom  have  you  been  talking  to,  if  I  may  make  so  bold  ?  " 
asked  the  innkeeper  guilelessly,  while  he  skillfully  expectorated 
after  the  manner  of  smokers. 

"To  a  wideawake  chap  named  Margaritis." 

Mitouflet  glanced  at  his  customer,  twice,  with  calm  irony. 

"  Oh  yes,  he  is  wideawake,  no  doubt !  He  knows  too  much 
for  most  people;  they  don't  follow  him " 

"  I  can  quite  believe  it.  He  has  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  higher  branches  of  finance." 

"Yes,  indeed,"  said  Mitouflet ;  "and,  for  my  part,  I  have 
always  thought  it  a  pity  that  he  should  be  mad." 

"Mad?     How?" 

"How?  Why,  mad,  as  a  madman  is  mad,"  repeated  the 
tavern-keeper.  "  But  he  is  not  dangerous,  and  his  wife  looks 
carefully  after  him.  So  you  understood  each  other?  That's 
funny,"  said  the  relentless  Mitouflet,  with  the  utmost  calm. 

"Funny?"  cried  Gaudissart.  "Funny?  But  your  pre- 
cious Monsieur  Vernier  was  making  a  fool  of  me  !  " 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  383 

"  Did  he  send  you  there  ?  "  said  Mitouflet. 

''Yes." 

"  I  say,  wife,"  cried  the  innkeeper,  " listen  to  that  !  Mon- 
sieur Vernier  actually  sent  monsieur  here  to  talk  to  old  Mar- 
garitis " 

"And  what  did  you  find  to  say  to  each  other,  my  good 
gentleman,"  said  the  woman,  "since  he  is  quite  mad?" 

"  He  sold  me  two  casks  of  wine." 

"And  you  bought  them  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  But  it  is  his  mania  to  want  to  sell  wine  ;  he  has  none." 

"  Very  good  !  "  cried  the  drummer.  "  In  the  first  place,  I 
will  go  and  thank  Monsieur  Vernier." 

Gaudissart,  boiling  with  rage,  went  off  to  the  house  of  the 
ex-dyer,  whom  he  found  in  his  parlor  laughing  with  the 
neighbors,  to  whom  he  was  already  telling  the  story. 

"  Monsieur,"  said  this  Prince  of  Drummers,  his  eyes  glar- 
ing with  wrath,  "  you  are  a  sneak  and  a  blackguard ;  and  if 
you  are  not  the  lowest  of  turnkeys — a  class  I  rank  below  the 
convicts — you  will  give  me  satisfaction  for  the  insult  you  have 
done  me  by  placing  me  in  the  power  of  a  man  whom  you  knew 
to  be  mad.  Do  you  hear  me,  Monsieur  Vernier,  the  dyer?" 

This  was  the  speech  Gaudissart  had  prepared,  as  a  tragedian 
prepares  his  entrance  on  the  stage. 

"What  next?"  retorted  Vernier,  encouraged  by  the  pres- 
ence of  his  neighbors.  "  Do  you  think  we  have  not  good 
right  to  make  game  of  a  gentleman  who  arrives  at  Vouvray 
with  an  air  and  a  flourish,  to  get  our  money  out  of  us  under 
pretense  of  being  great  men — painters  or  verse-mongers — 
and  who  thus  gratuitously  places  us  on  a  level  with  a  penniless 
horde,  out  at  elbows,  homeless  and  roofless  ?  What  have  we 
done  to  deserve  it,  we  who  are  fathers  of  families?  A  rogue, 
who  asks  us  to  subscribe  to  the  '  Globe,'  a  paper  which 
preaches  as  the  first  law  of  God,  if  you  please,  that  a  man 


384  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

shall  not  inherit  what  his  father  and  mother  can  leave  him  ? 
On  my  sacred  word  of  honor,  old  Margaritis  can  talk  more 
sense  than  that. 

"And,  after  all,  what  have  you  to  complain  of?  You  were 
quite  of  a  mind,  you  and  he.  These  gentlemen  can  bear  wit- 
ness that  if  you  had  speechified  to  all  the  people  in  the  country- 
side you  would  not  have  been  so  well  understood." 

"  That  is  all  very  well  to  say,  but  I  consider  myself  insulted, 
monsieur,  and  I  expect  satisfaction." 

"  Very  good,  sir ;  I  consider  you  insulted  if  that  will  be 
any  comfort  to  you,  and  I  will  not  give  you  satisfaction,  for 
there  is  not  satisfaction  enough  in  the  whole  silly  business  for 
me  to  give  you  any.  Is  he  absurd,  I  ask  you  ?  ' ' 

At  these  words  Gaudissart  rushed  on  the  dyer  to  give  him  a 
blow ;  but  the  Vouvrillons  were  on  the  alert  and  threw  them- 
selves between  them,  so  that  Gaudissart  the  Great  only  hit 
the  dyer's  wig,  which  flew  off  and  alighted  on  the  head  of 
Mademoiselle  Claire  Vernier. 

"  If  you  are  not  satisfied  now,  monsieur,  I  shall  be  at  the 
inn  till  to-morrow  morning ;  you  will  find  me  there,  and  ready 
to  show  you  what  is  meant  by  satisfaction  for  an  insult.  I 
fought  in  July,  monsieur  !  " 

"Very  well,"  said  the  dyer,  "  you  shall  fight  at  Vouvray ; 
and  you  will  stay  here  rather  longer  than  you  bargained  for." 

Gaudissart  departed,  pondering  on  this  reply,  which  seemed 
to  him  ominous  of  mischief.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he 
dined  cheerlessly. 

The  whole  borough  of  Vouvray  was  in  a  stir  over  the  meet- 
ing between  Gaudissart  and  Monsieur  Vernier.  A  duel  was  a 
thing  unheard  of  in  this  benign  region. 

"  Monsieur  Mitouflet,  I  am  going  to  fight  Monsieur  Vernier 
to-morrow  morning,"  said  Gaudissart  to  his  host.  "I  know 
nobody  here  ;  will  you  be  my  second  ?  " 

"With  pleasure,"  said  Mitouflet. 

Gaudissart  had  hardly  finished  his  dinner  when  Madame 


GAUDISSART   THE    GREAT.  385 

Fontanieu  and  the  mayor's  deputy  came  10  the  Golden  Sun, 
took  Mitouflet  aside,  and  represented  to  him  what  a  sad  thing 
it  would  be  for  the  whole  district  if  a  violent  death  should 
occur ;  they  described  the  frightful  state  of  affairs  for  good 
Madame  Vernier,  and  implored  him  to  patch  the  matter  up  so 
as  to  save  the  honor  of  the  community. 

"  I  will  see  to  it,"  said  the  innkeeper  with  a  wink. 

In  the  evening  Mitouflet  went  up  to  Gaudissart's  room, 
carrying  pens,  ink,  and  paper. 

"What  is  all  that?"  inquired  Gaudissart  of  the  tavern- 
keeper. 

"  Well,  as  you  are  to  fight  to-morrow,  I  thought  you  might 
be  glad  to  leave  some  little  instructions  and  that  you  might 
wish  to  write  some  letters,  for  we  all  have  some  one  who  is 
dear  to  us.  Oh  !  that  will  not  kill  you.  Are  you  a  good 
fencer  ?  Would  you  like  to  practice  a  little  ?  I  have  some 
foils." 

"  I  should  be  glad  to  do  so." 

Mitouflet  fetched  the  foils  and  two  masks. 

"  Now,  let  us  see." 

The  innkeeper  and  the  drummer  stood  on  guard.  Mitouflet, 
who  had  been  an  instructor  of  grenadiers,  hit  Gaudissart  sixty- 
eight  times,  driving  him  back  to  the  wall. 

"  The  devil !  you  are  good  at  the  game  !  "  said  Gaudissart, 
out  of  breath. 

"I  am  no  match  for  Monsieur  Vernier." 

"  The  deuce  !     Then  I  will  fight  with  pistols." 

"  I  advise  you  to.  You  see,  if  you  use  large  horse-pistols 
and  load  them  to  the  muzzle,  they  are  sure  to  kick  and  miss, 
and  each  man  withdraws  with  unblemished  honor.  Leave  me 
to  arrange  it.  By  the  mass,  two  good  men  would  be  great 
fools  to  kill  each  other  for  a  jest." 

"Are  you  sure  the  pistols  will  fire  wide  enough  ?  I  should 
be  sorry  to  kill  the  man,"  said  Gaudissart. 

"Sleep  easy." 
25 


386  GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT. 

Next  morning  the  adversaries,  both  rather  pale,  met  at  the 
foot  of  the  Pont  de  la  Cise. 

The  worthy  Vernier  narrowly  missed  killing  a  cow  that  was 
grazing  by  the  roadside  ten  yards  off. 

"Ah!  you  fired  in  the  air!"  exclaimed  Gaudissart,  and 
with  these  words  the  enemies  fell  into  each  other's  arms. 

"Monsieur,"  said  the  traveler,  "your  joke  was  a  little 
rough,  but  it  was  funny.  I  am  sorry  I  spoke  so  strongly,  but 
I  was  beside  myself.  I  hold  you  a  man  of  honor." 

"  Monsieur,  we  will  get  you  twenty  subscribers  to  the  chil- 
dren's paper,"  replied  the  dyer,  still  rather  pale. 

"That  being  the  case,"  said  Gaudissart,  "  why  should  we 
not  breakfast  together?  Men  who  have  fought  are  always 
ready  to  understand  each  other." 

"Monsieur  Mitouflet,"  said  Gaudissart,  as  they  went  in, 
"  there  is  a  bailiff  here,  I  suppose  ?  " 

"What  for?" 

"I  mean  to  serve  a  notice  on  my  dear  little  Monsieur 
Margaritis,  requiring  him  to  supply  me  with  two  casks  of  his 
wine." 

"But  he  has  none,"  said  Vernier. 

"  Well,  monsieur,  I  will  say  no  more  about  it  for  an  indem- 
nity of  twenty  francs.  But  I  will  not  have  it  said  in  your 
town  that  you  stole  a  march  on  Gaudissart  the  Great. ' ' 

Madame  Margaritis,  afraid  of  an  action,  which  the  plaintiff 
would  certainly  gain,  brought  the  twenty  francs  to  the  clement 
drummer,  who  was  also  spared  the  pains  of  any  further  propa- 
ganda in  one  of  the  most  jovial  districts  of  France,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  least  open  to  new  ideas. 

On  his  return  from  his  tour  in  the  southern  provinces, 
Gaudissart  the  Great  was  traveling  in  the  coupe  of  the  Laffite- 
Caillard  diligence,  and  had  for  a  fellow-passenger  a  young 
man  to  whom,  having  passed  Angoul&me,  he  condescended 
to  expatiate  on  the  mysteries  of  life,  fancying  him,  no  doubt, 
but  a  baby. 


GAUDISSART  THE    GREAT.  387 

On  reaching  Vouvray,  the  youth  exclaimed — 

"  What  a  lovely  situation  !  " 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  said  Gaudissart,  "but  the  land  is  unin- 
habitable by  reason  of  the  inhabitants.  You  would  have  a 
duel  on  your  hands  every  day.  Why,  only  three  months  ago 
I  fought  on  that  very  spot " — and  he  pointed  to  the  bridge — 
"  with  a  confounded  dyer — pistols;  but — I  fleeced  him !  " 

PARIS,  November,  1832. 

[Note. — The  book  "  Parisians  in  the  Country  "  consists  of  "  Gaudissart 
the  Great"  and  the  "  Muse  of  the  Department."  As  they  are  not  re- 
lated to  each  other  they  are,  for  mechanical  reasons,  placed  in  separate 
volumes. — PUB.] 


UCSB  LIBRAE* 

x- 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


«CT>  lO-fflll 

(JIlL     OCT05 
MAY  1 9  1992 


191 


A     000  664  923     o 


